Clinical applications of loudness scaling

Authors

  • Maarten F. B. van Beurden Academic Medical Ctr., Dept. of Clinical and Exp. Audiol., D2-223, P.O. Box 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Monique Boymans Academic Medical Ctr., Dept. of Clinical and Exp. Audiol., D2-223, P.O. Box 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Noortje Jansen Academic Medical Ctr., Dept. of Clinical and Exp. Audiol., D2-223, P.O. Box 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Wouter A. Dreschler Academic Medical Ctr., Dept. of Clinical and Exp. Audiol., D2-223, P.O. Box 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract

Fitting rules used in auditory rehabilitation usually have their main focus on detection thresholds. In state-of-the-art nonlinear hearing aids supra-threshold measures of the ear are also important and some of this information can be derived from loudness scaling. In three studies we examined the added value of loudness scaling for clinical applications. In a first study we performed loudness scaling in a group of musicians with primarily normal hearing. We measured loudness scaling with two narrowband (750 Hz and 3 kHz) and a broadband signal and investigated the relation with audiometric threshold. In a second study we examined the difference between monaural and binaural loudness perception in a subgroup of musicians. Finally we examined the correlations between self-reported problems and measures obtained from loudness scaling in a different group of hearing impaired employees. Our ndings indicate that unaided loudness scaling may not be appropriate as a basis for prescription rules, but aided loudness scaling can be used successfully as a verification tool in the fine-tuning stage and to compare different outcomes.

References

Brand, T., and Hohmann, V. (2002). “An adaptive procedure for categorical loudness scaling,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 112, 1597-1604.

Marks, L. E. (1978). “Binaural summation of the loudness of pure tones,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 64, 107-113.

Reynolds, G. S., and Stevens, S. S. (1970). “Binaural summation of loudness,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 32, 1337-1344.

Scharf, B., and Fishken, D. (1970). “Binaural summation of loudness reconsidered,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 86, 374-379.

Whilby, S., Florentine, M., Wagner, E., and Marozeau, J. (2006). “Monaural and binaural loudness of 5- and 200-ms tones in normal and impaired hearing,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 119, 3931-3939.

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Additional Files

Published

2007-12-15

How to Cite

van Beurden, M. F. B., Boymans, M., Jansen, N., & Dreschler, W. A. (2007). Clinical applications of loudness scaling. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 1, 577–584. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2007-58

Issue

Vol. 1 (2007): Auditory Signal Processing in Hearing Impaired Listeners

Section

2007/6. Hearing-aid evaluation and optimization

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