By Trey Cline and Jennifer B. Shinn 

This article is a part of the March/April 2024, Volume 36, Number 2, Audiology Today issue.

Sex hormones—estrogen and progesterone—have long been known for their roles in female development during puberty, as well as regulation of the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, lactation, and libido (Hiller-Sturmhöfel and Bartke, 1998). However, estrogen is impactful in many other nonreproductive processes within the body, including neuroprotective properties within the central nervous system that aid in brain neurogenesis regulation, recovery from traumatic brain injury, inflammation, cognitive status, and mood alterations (Siddiqui et al, 2016). One rarely mentioned impact of sex hormones is the modulatory effects on the central auditory nervous system (CANS). The evidence focused on the impact of sex hormones, and the CANS primarily exists in the animal model but is fairly sparse in humans at this time. Current literature suggests a growing trend of sex hormones, primarily estrogen, having a significant relationship to CANS function (Coleman et al, 1994; Caruso et al, 2000; Maney et al, 2006; Sao and Jain, 2016; Trott et al, 2019). 

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