Influence of contralateral masking on bone-conduction thresholds.
Two studies were conducted using normal-hearing listeners. In study 1, bone-conduction (BC) thresholds were obtained with contralateral masking at an effective level (EL) of 30 and 35 dB. In study 2, the EL of the contralateral masking equaled the magnitude of the occlusion effect (OE) plus a safety factor of 10 and 20 dB. Within each study, BC threshold shifts were evident at the higher compared with the lower ELs. Between studies, the highest BC thresholds were always obtained in the presence of the highest SPL of the masker which occurred in the 35 dB EL condition, whereas the lowest BC thresholds were always obtained in the presence of the lowest SPL of the masker which occurred in the OE + 10 dB condition. Even though the BC thresholds were influenced by the amount of contralateral masking, the BC thresholds obtained in each study were in good agreement with the new ANSI S3.26-1981 BC reference thresholds.
D000328:Adult; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D001844:Bone Conduction; D006801:Humans; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D012016:Reference Values