Temporal Integration of Acoustic Energy in Normal Hearing Persons

Abstract

The relation between stimulus duration and stimulus intensity in perception of acoustic energy generally referred to as the temporal integration, i.e. temporal summation is investigated. In previous studies a wide variety of methods has been used, and accordingly, different results have been obtained. To establish a normal material for later comparison of temporal integration in hearing impaired ears 30 normal persons were investigated. Temporal integration was measured as monoaural threshold determinations for the frequencies 500, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 4 kHz, and 8 kHz using stimulus durations varying from 1 to 1 000 msec. The results show that when halving the stimulus duration the sound pressure must be increased 3 dB to maintain the threshold, thus keeping the acoustic energy constant. A clear frequency dependence in temporal integration is demonstrated. We hope that the method of calculating temporal integration in this trial will facilitate the comparison of results of different investigators and thereby extend the use of temporal integration measurements as an audiological tool.