Abstract
To compare the air-conduction hearing thresholds obtained with different acoustic transducers and verify the users' preferences regarding them. This is a cross-sectional, analytical, observational study with 26 participants aged 18 to 30 years, with normal hearing and no history of exposure to high sound pressure levels or complaints of tinnitus at the time of the assessment. We surveyed their medical history and performed meatoscopy, pure-tone threshold audiometry, speech audiometry, and acoustic immittance. The auditory thresholds were surveyed twice, each time with a different type of acoustic transducer: insert (E-A-RTONE) and circumaural earphones (HDA200). The assessments were performed in a random order, with 5-minute intervals. In the end, we asked the participants which earphones they found more comfortable in the tests. The data were submitted to nonparametric statistical analysis. Assessing the medians in the auditory threshold survey, the circumaural earphones obtained better results at 250, 500, 2000, and 6000 Hz, while the insert earphones were better at 3000 and 4000 Hz; there were no statistical differences at 1000 and 8000 Hz. The circumaural was elected the most comfortable earphone. The circumaural earphones had better auditory thresholds at 250, 500, 2000, and 6000 Hz than the insert earphones and were reported by the patients as the most comfortable type of transducer.
Highlights
Pure-tone audiometry (PTA), whose objective is to survey the sound intensity threshold at which a person detects sound at various frequencies, is the gold standard examination to assess hearing
Of the 30 people who agreed to participate in the study, 26 met the eligibility criteria – 16 females and 10 males, aged 18 to 30 years
The median hearing threshold results at 250 to 8000 Hz obtained with the two acoustic transducers – circumaural (HDA‐200) and insert (E-A-RTONE) – revealed better results with the circumaural earphone at 250, 500, 2000, 6000, and 8000 Hz, while the result at 1000 Hz was the same for both types of transducers (Figure 1)
Summary
Pure-tone audiometry (PTA), whose objective is to survey the sound intensity threshold at which a person detects sound at various frequencies, is the gold standard examination to assess hearing. It assesses both air-conduction (with earphones) and bone-conduction (with a bone vibrator) thresholds in both ears[1]. Supra-aural earphones are the ones most used in audiology clinical practice It is fitted by pressing the earpad onto the auricle[3], but its disadvantages are the possibility of coupling between the earphone and the ear and the little reliability at low frequencies due to possible air leak[2]. Insert earphones are inserted into the external ear canal with a disposable foam earplug. It is subject to variations in the geometry of the external ear canal and difficulties controlling the precise insertion depth[2]
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