Understanding the relationship between blood groups (A, B, AB, and O) and auditory functioning can provide valuable insights into individual differences in hearing ability and potential risks for hearing loss.
ObjectiveTo assess the impact of blood group on auditory functions. It examined contralateral suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs), speech perception in noise (SPIN), and binaural integration using the dichotic consonant-vowel (DCV) test.
MethodsThere were 60 female participants, from the blood groups A, B, AB, and O, aged 18 to 30 years with normal hearing were included. This study's preliminary assessments included pure-tone audiometry, immittance audiometry, and otoscopy to exclude hearing loss and middle ear dysfunction. Suppression of TEOAE was measured with and without contralateral broadband noise, while SPIN was tested at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of −10, 0, and +10 dB. The DCV test assessed binaural integration with the presentation of prerecorded consonant-vowel stimuli simultaneously.
ResultsThe Kruskal-Wallis H test showed no significant differences in TEOAE suppression amplitudes, SPIN scores across SNRs, or DCV scores across the four blood groups.
ConclusionThese findings suggest that blood type has no discernible effect on central auditory functions, such as binaural integration, speech perception in noisy environments, or efferent auditory system functioning. This research, thus, highlights the need for further investigation with diverse methodologies and larger cohorts, to better understand the role of blood groups in auditory processing.
Keywords blood groups - contralateral suppression of OAE - efferent system - dichotic CV - binaural integration - speech in noise Data AvailabilityData will be available upon request to the corresponding author.
Conceptualization: PPSA, JPT; Methodology: PP; Investigation: JPT, NPS, AV; Data curation and formal analysis: KK; Writing - original draft: PPSA; Writing - review & editing: PP, KK; Supervision: PPSA, PP.
Editor-in-Chief: Geraldo Pereira Jotz.
Publication HistoryReceived: 18 February 2025
Accepted: 02 November 2025
Article published online:
05 May 2026
© 2026. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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Bibliographical Record
Pancham Ponnana S A, Jovita Priya Tauro, Nikhil Paremajalu S., Akhil Varghese, Kamalakannan Karupaiah, Prashanth Prabhu. Impact of Blood Group on Contralateral Suppression of Otoacoustic Emissions, Speech
Perception in Noise, and Binaural Integration. Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2026; 30: s00461819712.
DOI: 10.1055/s-0046-1819712
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