Testing Music Hearing in Right and Left Ears of Children Ages Ten,Eleven,and Twelve

The purpose of this study was to determine if musically experienced children recognize simple melodies better with the right ear or the left ear. The subjects, students from grades four and five, were divided into two groups and assigned to either a musically sophisticated or musically unsophisticated group. They were tested individually with separate tests for right or left ear. These short, melodic tests were administered and scored in a randomized manner in an attempt to determine if any ear dominance existed. The only significant difference found was between grades; the fifth grade students scoring slightly better than the fourth grade students. All other comparisons—by sex, sophistication, or grade by sophistication-resulted in no differences.