Reaction-time procedure for measurement of hearing. I. Suprathreshold functions.

Abstract

Reaction time (RT), or response latency, to auditory stimuli has been suggested as a measure of loudness in nonverbal animals as well as in man. In this study RT functions were obtained for human and rhesus monkey subjects under normal conditions and under conditions of hearing impairment. In both humans and monkeys RT varied in a similar manner with changes in intensity and frequency of the stimulus, and in response to experimental manipulation of the receptor organ. The study demonstrated that latency functions are similar to functions derived by loudness−matching procedures in humans: in subjects with normal hearing, equal−latency contours corresponded closely with equal−loudness contours. In subjects with impaired hearing, matched−latency and matched−loudness contours also corresponded closely. Rate of decrease in RT with increasing intensity is discussed and related to rate of growth in loudness. The results suggest that RT is a valuable measure of suprathreshold hearing in human and nonhuman primates. Subject Classification: 65.50, 65.64, 65.66, 65.75; 85.24.