Abstract
The effectiveness of high‐frequency noise for masking lower frequency pure tones was measured for hearing‐impaired subjects exhibiting rising audiometric contours. The subjects differed with respect to the frequency range over which their hearing was most sensitive and the degree of low‐frequency loss. Maskers were either narrow bands of noise centered at the listener's best frequency or broader bands of noise which filled the region of best hearing. Comparative data were collected on naive, normal hearing listeners. The results indicate that large individual differences exist in the degree to which abnormal downward spread of masking is evident for persons with low‐frequency hearing loss. Apparent in the data is the complexity of the relationship between the slope of the rising portion of the audiogram, the bandwidth of the masker, the extent and location of the frequency range of best hearing, and the frequency of the probe tone. The interactive effects observed account for conflicting evidence in the literature as to the validity of the argument that artifactual responses to low‐frequency signals are obtained in routine audiometric procedures on this population of hearing‐impaired individuals. [Work supported by DRF.]
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