Finger snapping and hand dominance

Yes

Oh look they both snap the same level of loudness.

Oh wait, I'm ambidextrous.


Hmmm...maybe there's something to your theory after all.

Well you two aren't much help!

But please accept this award of thanks on behalf of the scientific community of my house.

I was just funnin' ya . . . i can barely snap the fingers of my left hand, never mind doing it loudly. You and Mo are a couple a geeks . . .

my dominant (right) hand is louder...

A meta-analysis of the many studies of our geekiness has failed to show any conclusive results.

I'm surprised that our theory did not hold true.

My left hand finger snap is easily three times as loud as my right hand finger snap. It produces much better tone and clarity as well.

I'm a total non-snapper, but I got two volunteers at the office to try it for Mo.

both right-hand dominant

both much louder right-hand snappers


(Julie is still staring at her left-hand, trying to make it snap louder)

Truthfully, I am ambidextrous so both hands get about equal usage, eating, scrubbing, cleaning, television remote, phone button pressing. I usually write with the right, occasionally the left, I usually shake hands with the left, occasionally the right. It is a little hard to be sure though if one is slightly louder since I have to bring both hands to the left since the hearing in the right ear is blurry. They seem equal to me in sound.

On a different matter though, if I shake the hands wildly and let them flap and flounce about, the left is much more limber and swooshes about much more easily than the right. (did I mention that I was double jointed when younger, before age made the body turn rigid?)

I can not distinguish a difference between my left and right hands.

...er...

Audibly, that is.

I am right hand dominant, but my finger snaps are equally loud, although my right hand snap is about half a tone lower than my left hand hand snap and by that I mean if the left hand is a middle c - the right hand is a c#.

I've played the piano for about 35 years so the fingers on my right and left hands are probably about equal in terms of strength and dexterity.
I think this is what explains it for me.

Oh, snap!

Slightly louder with my dominant hand.

I can't snap at all - all that comes out is some feeble noise.

7 more snappers checking in from our office

4 dominant louder (3 RHD/1 LHD)
2 non-dominant louder (2 RHD)
1 equal volume (RHD)

I'm a lefty and I agree with Booms hypothesis. My right hand can snap much louder then my left.

oh..not wanting to be left out, BTW, I'm right-hand dominant.

Dan, of my original 2-person sample, is still trying to figure out what trick I'm playing on him by asking him to snap his fingers at work

I'm glad that there are a enough non-dominant snappers to know that it's not some crazy ability that signifies some kind of nonsense! I do wonder if there is something that explains non-dominant v. dominant snapping ability.

Thank you all for your participation with a special thanks to ehBeth for getting her whole office involved.

I don't notice a difference in sound volume but I do notice a difference in tone/pitch of the snap. The dominate hand's snap is a lower tone/pitch than the non-dominate hand's snap.

I'm wondering if this has to do with muscle tone. The dominate hand's muscle tone is more dense than the other hand and may produce a more "deadened" sound than the more flabby muscles of the non-dominate hand.