Research Question and Hypothesis Research Question: If we play a tinnitus noise, are males or females more likely to recognize the sound? Hypothesis: Females will be more susceptible to tinnitus noise.
Are You Listening? Male vs. Female
Research Study and Design Our Naturalistic Observation will be conducted in the following steps: Step 1: Download Sound Oasis app which will emit the tinnitus noise from the smart phone while we conduct research. Step 2: Go to the Pen Centre and walk through numerous stores, stand in food lines and purposely talk to employees to observe reaction closer to the noise. Step 3: Have a third party outside of the research group to be the one to carry the device, therefore we are able to put our full attention on observing. Conduct study 2 times in one hour intervals in order for a variety of subjects. Step 4: Look for people who seem to be agitated or uncomfortable after we walk in, listen for verbal cues to others and/or ourselves, pay close attention to where their eyes are going, if they touch their ears, and if they pick up or look at something that's electronic (looking for a source of the sound.) Step 5: Record data on a smart phone or device in order for the environment to still look natural.
Are You Listening? Male vs. Female
Research Data and Observations
DAY 1
DAY 2
Females who noticed
Females who didn't notice
Males who noticed
Males who didn't notice
Are You Listening? Male vs. Female
Results and Discussion What we found: Females noticed the sound more than males. J.D. Pearson and his fellow colleagues found that women have more sensitive hearing than men at frequencies above 1000 (J.D. Pearson, 1995.) Therefore, our hypothesis has been proven correct. However we did notice that males were more verbal about it and females kept to themselves and seemed more irritated. A majority of the males who noticed enquired about the sound to someone or physically looked for the destination from where the noise was coming from. This makes sense to us because we had previously read about a study where 25 people of each gender were tested and it was found that women had a lower comfortable listening level than men (Unknown, 2010) Either gender from an older age group usually did not hear the noise in our case, or show any sign of it because of, what we assume, is an issue with hearing loss, which is a major confounding variable of our study. While women have typically been found to have superior highfrequency hearing, sociological changes that expose men and women to the same hazardous noise levels may ultimately blur the gender distinction, and it may be expected that women, too, will maintain less of their high-frequency hearing as they age (Unknown, 1997.)
Are You Listening? Male vs. Female
Works Cited Gender differences in a longitudinal study of ageassociated hearing loss. (1995) Retrieved October 28th 2014. from http://scitation.aip.org/content/asa/journal/jasa/97/2/10.1121/1.412231 Hearing Loss: Does Gender Play a Role? (1997, January 1). Retrieved October 28, 2014, from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/719262_5 Webpage Advances in Gender and Education, 2 (2010), 13-21. Printed in the USA. (Pg 15) 2010 Montgomery Center for Research in Child & Adolescent Development. Retrieved October 28th 2014 http://www.mcrcad.org/2010-Sax-hearing.pdf
Tinnitus No More: The Complete Guide On Tinnitus Symptoms, Causes, Treatments, & Natural Tinnitus Remedies to Get Rid of Ringing in Ears Once and for All