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Pure-tone audiometry is the main hearing test used to identify hearing threshold levels of an individual, enabling determination of the degree, type and configuration of a hearing loss [1] [2] and thus providing a basis for diagnosis and management.
An audiologist conducting an audiometric hearing test in a sound-proof testing booth. Identification of a hearing loss is usually conducted by a general practitioner medical doctor, otolaryngologist, certified and licensed audiologist, school or industrial audiometrist, or other audiometric technician.
A pure tone audiometry hearing test is the gold standard for evaluation of hearing loss or disability. [medical citation needed] Other types of hearing tests also generate graphs or tables of results that may be loosely called 'audiograms', but the term is universally used to refer to the result of a pure tone audiometry hearing test.
An audiogram is the result of a hearing test. The most common type of hearing test is pure tone audiometry (PTA). It charts the thresholds of hearing sensitivity at a selection of standard frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz. There is also high frequency pure tone audiometry which tests frequencies from 8000 to 20,000 Hz.
The result of the test is an audiogram diagram which plots a person's hearing sensitivity at the tested frequencies. On an audiogram an "x" plot represents the softest threshold heard at each specific frequency in the left ear, and an "o" plot represents the softest threshold heard at each specific frequency in the right ear.
Otosclerosis results in an audiogram with significant loss at all frequencies, often of around 40 dB(HL). [12] A deficiency particularly around 2 kHz (termed a Carhart notch in the audiogram) is characteristic of either otosclerosis or a congenital ossicular anomaly. [13] Ménière's disease results in a severe loss at low frequencies. [14]
The main disadvantage lies in the large number of trials needed to obtain the data, and therefore time required to complete the test. [4] Method of adjustment Method of adjustment shares some features with the method of limits, but differs in others. There are descending and ascending runs and the listener knows that the stimulus is always present.
Graph showing a typical Auditory Brainstem Response. The auditory brainstem response (ABR), also called brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA) or brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) or brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAERs) [1] [2] is an auditory evoked potential extracted from ongoing electrical activity in the brain and recorded via electrodes placed on the scalp.