Reference thresholds for the TEN(HL) test for people with normal hearing

Abstract

Objective: To estimate normative values and repeatability of thresholds for the TEN(HL) test for diagnosing dead regions in the cochlea, as a function of signal frequency, TEN(HL) level, age and gender. Design: The TEN(HL) test was administered twice for each ear of each participant using signal frequencies from 0.5 to 4 kHz and TEN(HL) levels of 30, 50 and 70 dB HL/ERB_N. Study sample: In all, 29 young participants and 8 older participants were tested. All had normal audiograms with no history of hearing problems. Results: There was good repeatability across sessions. There was no significant effect of ear, gender or age group. The average signal-to-TEN ratio (STR) at threshold was close to 0 dB. For low signal frequencies, the STR at threshold varied only slightly with TEN(HL) level, but for the signal frequencies of 3 and 4 kHz the STR at threshold increased to about +2.7 dB for the TEN(HL) level of 70 dB/ERB_N. Conclusions: For a high TEN(HL) level, the “normal” STR at threshold at 3 and 4 kHz is closer to +2 dB than to 0 dB. Further research is needed to assess whether the TEN(HL)-test criteria need to be modified when testing at high frequencies and high levels.

Key Words:

• Reference thresholds
• threshold equalising noise (TEN)
• test–retest
• signal to TEN ratio

Acknowledgements

We thank three reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.