Which ear do you use when talking on your cell phone?

If you're a left-brain thinker, chances are you use your right hand to hold your cell phone up to your right ear, according to a study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

There appears to be a strong correlation between brain dominance and the ear used to listen to a cell phone, with more than 70 percent of participants holding their cell phone up to the ear on the same side as their dominant hand.

According to the theory of left-brain or right-brain dominance, each side of the brain controls different types of thinking, and people often prefer one type of thinking over the other. Someone who is left-brain dominant is more logical, analytical and objective, while someone who is right-brain dominant is more intuitive, thoughtful and subjective.

Left-brain dominant people are more likely to use their right hand for writing and other everyday tasks. And interestingly, most left-brain dominant people also place the phone on their right ear, despite there being no perceived difference in their hearing in the left or right ear.

Likewise, right-brain dominant people are more likely to use their left hand to hold the phone in their left ear.

So what? The research could offer additional evidence that cell phone use and brain, head and neck tumors may not be linked, says the study leader, Dr. Michael Seidman, who is the director of the division of otologic and neurotologic surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery at Henry Ford.

If there were a strong connection, he says there would be a far more people diagnosed with cancer on the right side of their brain, head and neck, which is the dominant side for cell phone use. But it's likely that there is a time and "dose-dependence" to the development of tumors, he says.

The study results were presented to a meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology.

--From the Editors at Netscape