Loudness Of Brief Tones In Hearing-Impaired Ears: Temporal Integration Of Acoustic Energy At Suprathreshold Levels In Patients With Presbyacusis

Abstract

The temporal integration of acoustic energy has been measured in 24 patients with presbyacusis at 75 and 95 dB SPL, mon- and binaural. The investigation was a loudness estimate of 7 brief tones with a duration of from 5 to 320 ms. Signal presentation was controlled by an on-line computer, based on the method of maximum likelihood for estimating psychometric functions. The temporal integration in these patients was not reduced compared with findings in normal-hearing persons. No differences were found in monaural versus binaural listening. The findings of this investigation indicate that the temporal integration is not responsible for the reduced discrimination in patients with sensorineural hearing loss.