Why men don't listen to women

Filed in archive Studies on August 7, 2005

There's now an excuse - women's voices are more difficult for men to listen to, and process information from, than the voices of other men:

Researchers at the University of Sheffield tracked activity in the brains of 12 men while playing recordings of different voices. The results showed that there were startling differences in the way the brain responded to male and female sounds.

Men deciphered female voices using the auditory part of the brain that processes music. In comparison, the sound of male voices engaged a simpler mechanism at the back of the brain.

(Mcginty, "Can't hear you, dear ... blame my brain", scotsman.com, Aug.6)