[Loudness scaling in children].
OBJECTIVE
Loudness measurements in children have been carried out using different psychoacoustical methods. Besides absolute magnitude estimation (AME) and cross modality matching (CMM) category and non-category loudness scalings have been performed. However, there is a lack of systematic evaluation in loudness scalings with children.


METHODS
A clinically feasible categorical method is presented which was evaluated in 10 normally hearing children of 7 to 8 years. Furthermore, measurements with hearing disabled children were performed in the framework of hearing aid evaluation.


RESULTS
Normal hearing children scaled slightly louder than a group of adult subjects with normal hearing. Regarding the shape of the loudness functions measured they were very similar. Particularly, they showed a steeper course at higher levels than for low input signals. Intraindividual scatter of the loudness judgements was larger for children than for adults. However, high correlation appeared between the data across test and retest. Hence, the outcome of the scalings appears to be sufficient reliable.


CONCLUSIONS
Clinical measurements confirmed that the method is appropriate for children from approximately 5-10 years. Loudness judgements became more consistent and more subtly differentiated with increasing age and decreasing hearing loss. Especially with view of hearing aid evaluation the method can give valuable indications because of the possibility to directly measure individual loudness over a broad range of levels and frequencies.
Meister
H
H
Universitäts-HNO-Klinik Köln, Joseph-Stelzmann-Strasse 9, 50931 Köln. hartmut.meister@uni-koeln.de
Walger
M
M
von Wedel
H
H
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008297:Male; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results