Masculinization effects in the auditory system.

Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) are different in several special populations of subjects. For females having opposite-sex co-twins (OSDZ females) and for homosexual and bisexual females, OAEs are masculinized. Certain AEP measures from homosexual and bisexual females also are masculinized. Certain AEP measures from homosexual males are hypermasculinized. These and other facts can be explained by assuming that these special populations received greater-than-normal exposures to androgens at some point(s) during development, possibly during prenatal development. It is proposed that some differences in androgenization may have been spatially and temporally localized rather than global, and that the localized response to androgen exposure sometimes may be nonmonotonic.