12. Audiometry Flashcards
What is Intensity?
an objective, physical quantity characterizing the stimulus arriving at the ear.
What does the sensation of loudness depend on?
on the frequency (pitch) and the intensity of sound.
Does the value of loudness vary directly with intensity?
No
Weber-Fechner’s law
A logarithmic scale has been used to describe the response of the ear to stimuli of different intensity
Stevens’ law
- The loudness – intensity relationship corresponds well to the universal psychophysical power law
-
Describes the relationship between the stimulus and the sensation valid for every sensory process
- where S is the power of sensation, and n is the exponent corresponding to the particular sensory process.
Which processes can explain the strong frequency dependence of hearing at the level of mechanical oscillations
Resonance processes of the outer and inner ear
What does this figure plot? Name of the curve
plot of intensity level versus frequency for sounds of equal loudness
→ equal- loudness curves
The points corresponding to ___ may connected into the isophon curves.
equal loudness
What is reference intensity?
Sound intensity that can just be heard at the reference frequency (1000 Hz)
How to calculate The intensity level of an arbitrary sound (JdB) measured in decibels
The intensity level of an arbitrary sound (JdB) measured in decibels (dB) corresponding to sound’s intensity (J ) is defined as:
What is the hearing-threshold contour defined as?
0 phon loudness level.
→ This is the lowest contour in the equal-loudness contour plot
The hearing-threshold contour is defined as the 0 phon loudness level. This is the lowest contour in the equal-loudness contour plot.
→ By raising the intensity level of the reference frequency to 10, 20, 30, … dB, ___ of 10, 20, 30, … phon were determined
the respective equal-loudness contours
How to calculate the loudness level ( Lphon) of the sound?
The loudness level ( Lphon) of the sound corresponds to the intensity level of the reference sound (Weber-Fechner law) as:
What does this expression mean?
This means that the loudness level ( Lphon) in phons is equal to the dB value of the intensity level of the reference sound (JdB 1000Hz ).
It was found that increasing the loudness level by 10 phons corresponds to ___
doubling the sound sensation
→ 20 phons correspond 4 to times louder and 30 phons to 8 times louder sound, and so on.
Do the values of the „Weber-Fechner-type phon-scale” reflect the linear change in our hearing sensation.?
Unfortunately, the values of the „Weber-Fechner-type phon-scale” do not reflect the linear change in our hearing sensation.
→ The values corresponding to the sound heard 2, 3, or 4 times louder are expected to have corresponding loudness level values 2, 3, 4 times higher.
Describe sone values
the sone values corresponding to the unchanged equal-loudness curves but reflecting the linear psychophysical sensation.
What is the fundamental point of this „sone scale” of loudness?
The fundamental point of this „sone scale” of loudness is the 40-dB intensity level of the reference sound which is, by definition, 1 sone.
1 sone = 40 phons.
What does this graph indicate?
Loudness as a function of intensity is plotted in Fig. 2 based on a large number of measurements of the loudness estimates of different people.
Auditory organs need some __ for determining loudness.
time
Auditory organs need some time for determining loudness. The total time necessary for this process is approximately (1)____ (number) seconds in healthy individuals, but it can be (2)___ in the hearing-impaired.
- 0.2
- longer
What is audiometry?
Testing of hearing by means of an audiometer
→ i.e, testing of hearing by recording the threshold of hearing as a function of frequency.
3 aims of audiometry
- to measure the extent of hearing loss of the patient
- to monitor the effects of a loud working environment in certain professions
- to adjust the hearing aid of the patient
What does A condition of sensory-neural hearing loss mean?
permanent damage or defects in the inner ear.
What happen In the case of conductive hearing loss?
an obstacle prevents sound from reaching the inner ear.
2 tests for examination of hearing
pure-tone audiometry or speech audiometry
The hearing threshold of hearing-impaired patients is ___(higher/lower) than that of healthy individuals
Higher
How is hearing loss measured?
- It is measured at different frequencies by pure-tone audiometry (using harmonic sound waves) as:
hearing loss = measured threshold of hearing – normal threshold of hearing = J dB measured –J dB norm
How is hearing loss determined in hearing-threshold audiometry?
hearing loss is determined in dB units (JdB)
→ since the phon or sone scale is valid only for healthy individuals