The importance of acoustic reflex for communication.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to compare the speech recognition capacity between listeners with and without acoustic reflex using different types of noises and intensities.


METHODS
We studied 18 women allocated to 2 groups: acoustic reflex present (20 ears) and absent (16 ears). They were presented with 180 disyllable words (90 to each ear), emitted randomly at a fixed intensity of 40 dB above the pure tone average hearing level. At the same time, 3 types of noises were presented ipsilaterally (white, pink, and speech), one at a time, at 3 intensities: 40, 50, and 60 dB above the pure tone average hearing level.


RESULTS
The ages and auditory thresholds were statistically equal between the groups. There was a significant difference in mean number of hits between the 2 groups for the 3 types of noises used. There was also a significant difference in mean number of hits for noise type and intensity when white and pink noise was used at 40 and 50 dB and for all the intensities when speech was used.


CONCLUSIONS
Acoustic reflex helps communication in high-noise environments and is more efficient for speech sounds.
de Andrade
Kelly Cristina Lira
KC
Acoustic and Instrumentation Laboratory, Universidade Estadual de Ciências da Saúde de Alagoas, Brazil.
Camboim
Elizângela Dias
ED
Soares
Ilka do Amaral
Ido A
Peixoto
Marcus Valerius da Silva
MV
Neto
Silvio Caldas
SC
Menezes
Pedro de Lemos
Pde L
D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D003142:Communication; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010700:Phonetics; D012016:Reference Values; D012022:Reflex, Acoustic / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test