Ear and hand dominance and their relationship with reading retardation.

A dichotic listening task was used to compare the ear dominance of retarded readers and normal readers with clear right-limb preference. Younger (8.5 to 9.5 yr.) and older (10 to 11 yr.) groups were tested with two levels of task difficulty. Although right ear dominance was more apparent in the younger than in the older children, there was no difference associated with reading ability; nor was task difficulty differentially relevant. It was concluded that, at least for right-handers, reading retardation is unrelated to incomplete ear dominance.