Experiments on Fluctuation of Auditory Acuity

Auditory thresholds were determined on 3 men in 1-decibel steps as a function of time; moment-to-moment, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and week-to-week. The typical moment-to-moment fluctuation was of the order of slightly less than 1 decibel. This is in sharp contrast to the views of those who feel that the instability of the audiogram is of the order of + or - 5 decibels. No trends were found during the 8 working hours of the day, during the 5 working days of the week, or during the same day of the week for a 7-week interval, and no additional factors making for variability entered the experiment as the result of extending the testing interval from hours to days to weeks. The relatively greater variability of high tone acuity as against low tone acuity was determined to arise not from inexact headphone replacement but probably from an instability of the initial section of the basilar membrane

Audiology · Auditory perception · Cognitive psychology · Perception · Medicine · Neuroscience · Noise Effects and Management · Psychology

• The Stability of Auditory and Vibro-Tactile Thresholds

  Louis D Goodfellow•The Journal of General Psychology•1938

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