Attenuation Rate in Sweep Frequency Békésy Audiometry

Abstract

This study reports the findings on 38 normally hearing adults, subjected to sweep frequency Bekesy audiometry at 2 octave/min. It shows that the ‘average difference limen’ in a sweep frequency trace increases by a factor of about 1.4 when the attenuation rate is doubled in the range 1.25 to 5dB/sec.Moreover, the range of variation of the ‘average difference limen’ increases greatly as the attenuation rate increases. In order to classify Bekesy audiograms or to use any quantitative analysis, therefore, an attenuation rate of 2.5dB/sec or less is preferable, since a rate greater than this will produce too great a dispersion for effective classification to be made.