RACE DIFFERENCE IN AUDITORY SENSITIVITY.

Abstract

Two separate studies investigated race and sex differences in normal auditory sensitivity. Study I measured thresholds at 500, 1000, and 2000 cps of 23 white men, 26 white women, 21 negro men, and 24 negro women using the method of limits. In Study II thresholds of 10 white men, 10 white women, 10 negro men, and 10 negro women were measured at 1000 cps using four different stimulus conditions and the method of adjustment by means of Bekesy audiometry. Results indicated that the white men and women in Study I heard significantly better than their negro counterparts at 1000 and 2000 cps. There were no significant differences between the average thresholds measured at 1000 cps of the white and negro men in Study II. White women produced better auditory thresholds with three stimulus conditions and significantly more sensitive thresholds with the slow pulsed stimulus than did the negro women in Study II.