participants did not favor any particular ear. due to the contralateral nature of the auditory system, the right ear is connected to wernicke's area, located within the posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus in the left cerebral hemisphere. sounds entering the auditory cortex are treated differently depending on whether or not they register as speech. when people listen to speech, according to the strong and weak speech mode hypotheses, they, respectively, engage perceptual mechanisms unique to speech or engage their knowledge of language as a whole.