Impact of Blood Group on Contralateral Suppression of Otoacoustic Emissions, Speech Perception in Noise, and Binaural Integration.

Introduction: 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. Objective: To 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. Methods: There 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. Results: The Kruskal-Wallis H test showed no significant differences in TEOAE suppression amplitudes, SPIN scores across SNRs, or DCV scores across the four blood groups. Conclusion: These 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.