title: Otoacoustic emissions, auditory evoked potentials, and traits related to sex and sexual orientation.
abstract: A number of trait measures, possibly reflective of prenatal hormonal effects, were obtained in studies of otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) carried out with male and female heterosexual and homosexual/bisexual college students. Most of the measures were from a self-report questionnaire; others were from experimenters' ratings or cognitive tests (Mental Rotation Test and Water Level Test). The questionnaire, test, and rating measures included physical characteristics (e.g., height, body type, eye color); spatial abilities; sex roles and sexual orientation; childhood gender nonconformity; and, in the OAE study, presence of homosexuality or bisexuality among relatives. Correlations with sexual orientation were most often consistent with the hypothesis that male homosexuals were undermasculinized and female homosexuals overmasculinized. Some correlations of the questionnaire, test, and rating measures with auditory measures were observed, but most of these were reduced or eliminated by statistically controlling for sex. In supplementary analyses, pigmentation measures appeared to be unrelated to OAEs, and data relevant to several hypotheses in the sexual orientation literature were briefly examined, including childhood gender nonconformity, X-linkage, handedness, and the tendency of homosexuality to run in families.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. loehlin@psy.utexas.edu
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Loehlin
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McFadden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001727:Bisexuality; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D020010:Heterosexuality; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D019529:Sexuality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires