Men vs. women: Did you hear that?

If you think men are not good listeners, you may be right.

Research supports it on several different levels.

According to Health.com, research has shown that women of all ages have better hearing than men at frequencies above 2,000 Hz.

Great. Now the guys have an excuse.

Now they can claim that it wasn't the desire to continue to sleep that kept them from changing the baby's diaper at 2 a.m. — it was that the baby's cries were clearly above 2,000 Hz.

So convenient.

And, oh yeah, now it makes total sense that it's the sound level of the GPS voice and not the Marco Polo fixation of men that keeps them from following directions when driving.

It gets worse. A study at the University of Sheffield showed that the male brain essentially hears a woman's voice as "background music."

It's sad but true. Men process the sound of other men's voices in the left cerebral hemisphere, where it can be fully comprehended, but they process the sound of women's voices in the auditory portion of the right hemisphere, which is actually used to process melodies.

They are also less likely to hear tonality — or attitude — in a woman's voice than in a male's voice.

Authors of the study suggest that women lower the pitch of their voices and exaggerate attitude if they want to increase the likelihood of being heard and understood by men.

I'd personally be willing to talk like Darth Vader if it would get the garbage to the curb.

And I'd go full-on with Oprah Winfrey-style emoting if my feelings regarding his credit card bill surprises could be absorbed.

Another difference between the sexes comes from researchers Larry Barker and Kittie Watson, who authored the book, "Listen Up: How to Improve Relationships, Reduce Stress, and Be More Productive by Using the Power of Listening."

The pair notes that men are action-oriented listeners. They focus on information relevant to the task at hand and filter out unnecessary details or emotions.

Women, on the other hand, connect emotionally and intuitively to conversations rather than from a detail-oriented perspective.

This may explain why the guys at the Geek Squad counter scatter like ants when I walk into Best Buy.

Research also shows that, with age, women's hearing changes and they are less able to hear the lower tones — 1,000 to 2,000 Hz — than men.

So, for all those guys wondering why we won't hand over the TV remote when they ask for it, this is our story and we're sticking to it.

Monica Lewis is a longtime humor columnist, playwright, songwriter and musician living in Erie.