Auditory System Abnormalities in Human Albinos

Auditory abnormalities were evaluated in human albinos using temporary threshold shift and dichotic listening tasks. Albinos exhibited a greater temporary threshold shift than did normally pigmented individuals after exposure to a fatiguing tone. In the dichotic listening task, albinos demonstrated a significantly larger right ear advantage than normally pigmented individuals. These results support earlier work indicating that hemispheric asymmetries are present in a albino auditory system and suggest that abnormalities may be present at the cochlear level as well.