title: The Acoustic Test Environment for Hearing Testing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Audiology clinics traditionally employ expensive, prefabricated sound rooms to create an environment that is sufficiently quiet for accurate hearing tests. There is seldom any analysis of the need for or benefit from such enclosures. There may be less expensive methods that would decrease the cost of and increase access to hearing testing.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This report provides information concerning the need for and effectiveness of sound rooms and an analysis of the audiometric test ranges for various earphone/room combinations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Acoustic measurements made in four rooms were analyzed with the attenuation provided by various earphone designs to determine the maximum permissible ambient noise levels and the corresponding audiometric test ranges.
  
  
  METHODS
  The measurements and calculations were performed with four test rooms and five earphone designs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ambient noise levels and earphone attenuation characteristics were used to calculate the noise levels that reach the ear. Those were compared to the maximum permissible ambient noise levels that are provided in ANSI S3.1-1999 or calculated from measured attenuation levels. These measurements were used to calculate testable ranges for each room/earphone combination.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The various room/earphone combinations resulted in minimum test levels that ranged from -10 to 20 dB HL at various test frequencies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When the actual benefits of expensive prefabricated sound rooms are assessed based on the range of hearing levels that can be tested, the effectiveness of that approach becomes highly questionable. Less expensive methods based on planning the clinic space, use of inexpensive sound treatments, and selecting an appropriate earphone can be effective in almost any space that would be used for hearing testing.
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, Department of Otolaryngology, Minneapolis, MN.|Audiology Incorporated, Arden Hills, MN.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Margolis
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, Department of Otolaryngology, Minneapolis, MN.
authors.forename: Brandon
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Madsen
mesh_terms: D001299:Audiometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006801:Humans; D009622:Noise; D015203:Reproducibility of Results