The study investigated whether low frequency air and bone thresholds elicited at high intensity levels from deaf children with a sensory-neural diagnosis reflect valid auditory sensitivity or are mediated through cutaneous-tactile receptors. Subjects were five totally deaf (mean age 17.0) yielding vibrotactile thresholds but with no air and bone response above 750 frequency; six control deaf with residual hearing (mean age 17.4 years); and 10 normal hearing subjects (mean age 22.4 years). All were given a subcutaneous injection of 2% xylocaine to eliminate local cutaneous-tactile interference. Five air and bone thresholds were obtained both before and during anesthesia from one ear of each subject. Air thresholds obtained by an audiometer were extinguished during the block for the totally deaf, shifted five decibels for the control deaf, and remained identical in the normal subjects; bone thresholds shifted five decibels for the totally deaf (the bone oscillator went through the whole cranium and thus was not stopped by the local anesthesia), and remained identical for the control subjects. (Author/SN)