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Relationship between dominant hand and ear preference for listening among medical students

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine dominant hand for routine activities and ear preference for listening among medical students. Mobile phone usage was also studied. Methodology: Medical students of three batches (2nd, 3rd, and 4th year) studying in a government medical college of Delhi (India) were considered. Out of 150 permitted (50 per batch) seats, only 139 were filled. Thus, after seeking an informed consent, a total of 117 (84.1%) available students could be contacted in person who completed the survey capturing details such as Section-I: Sociodemographic background; Section-II: Dominant hand (right/left) for undertaking routine activities, ear (right/left) preference for listening say mobile phones; and Section-III: Selected details of their mobile phones. Results: There were 71 (60.7%) males and 46 (39.3%) female students; It was found out that out of 117 students, 110 (94.0%) were right handed while 7 (5.9%) were left handed. Out of all the right-handed persons (n = 110), 94 (85.4%) preferred right ear, 14 (12.7%) left ear, and 2 (1.8%) either of the ears for listening phone. Similarly, out of all the left-handed persons (n = 07), 6 (85.7%) preferred left ear and only 1 (14.2%) right ear for listening mobile phone. Right-sided (right hand-right ear) laterality was observed in 85.4% and left-sided (left hand-left ear) laterality in 85.7% with overall (same hand-same ear) laterality of 85.4% among study participants (P < 0.01). Most common color of mobile phone was black (59, 50.4%), white (30, 25.6%), golden (13, 11.1%), silver (6, 5.1%), etc. Average time spent per day by medical students on mobile phones (either communication, Internet/WhatsApp/Facebook, listening songs, playing games, or reading E-books) was 3.83 (±2.1) h and average monthly expenditure on mobile phone was 10% of personal expenditure, i.e., Rs. 532 (±374.4). Conclusion: Our descriptive study reiterates that most participants were right handed (dominant limb) and majority of them preferred right ear for listening phones.