Ear Dominance and Reading Ability

Three investigations of the relation between ear dominance and reading ability are described. One hundred seventy-eight normal children between seven and 11 years old participated in the experiments. All Ss were monaurally presented with several series of digits and the S had to report the sequence of the digits. Performance of the left ear was subracted from performance of the right ear. The absolute values of these right-left differences (RLD) were studied in relation to reading ability. Given that efficient reading is based upon different lingual and nonlingual processes early rather than later in reading development, it was predicted that at the younger and older school ages, efficient reading is associated with repectively low and high degrees of ear dominance; dominance expressed in RDL. Both predictions were supported. A closer inspection of the results suggests that each stage in reading development may be accompanied by a different degree of lateralization: less dominance early in reading and maximal dominance in fluent reading. Practical implications are discussed. HA