A method that allows direct comparisons between pure-tone loudness-matching and intensity-discrimination data in normal and hearing impaired listeners is described. (Author)

Audibility thresholds were measured at 500 and 4000 Hz with a standard clinical procedure and a two-interval, forced-choice adaptive procedure for 72 normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners, age 17 to 83. Response bias played only a small role in accounting for difference in threshold estimated by adaptive and clinical procedures or for…

Binaural loudness summation was measured using three different paradigms with 10 normally hearing and 20 bilaterally symmetrical high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss subjects. Binaural summation increased with presentation level using the loudness matching procedure, with values in the 6-10 dB range. Summation decreased with level using the…

The Bekesy and Rosenberg procedures were used to investigate whether tone decay varies systematically as a function of the initial hearing threshold level of the test tone in sensorineural loss. Tone decay tended to increase with increased hearing threshold level for both tests at all three frequencies used. (Author/KW)

Twelve hearing-impaired and eight normal-hearing adults listened to speech and music programs that were reproduced using five different frequency responses (one flat, the others combinations of reduced lower frequencies and/or increased higher frequencies). Most preferred was a flat response at lower frequencies and a 6dB/octave increase…

Consonant identification was examined in four profoundly hearing-impaired children (ages 13-14) under five conditions. Performance was better in the vision alone condition than audition alone using hearing aids in free-field. No consistent differences were recorded across three auditory-visual conditions, including one with syllabic compression…

This study established a normal middle ear resonance estimated from sweep frequency tympanometry, established normal equivalent ear canal volume, static acoustic admittance, and tympanometric peak pressure at 226 hertz in 90 children with normal hearing and 68 children with deafness, ages 6-15. No significant intergroup or age differences were…