title: Equivalence and test-retest reproducibility of conventional and extended-high-frequency audiometric thresholds obtained using pure-tone and narrow-band-noise stimuli.
abstract: Extended high-frequency (EHF) audiometry is useful for evaluating ototoxic exposures and may relate to speech recognition, localisation and hearing aid benefit. There is a need to determine whether common clinical practice for EHF audiometry using tone and noise stimuli is reliable. We evaluated equivalence and compared test-retest (TRT) reproducibility for audiometric thresholds obtained using pure tones and narrowband noise (NBN) from 0.25 to 16 kHz.
  
  
  
  Thresholds and test-retest reproducibility for stimuli in the conventional (0.25-6 kHz) and EHF (8-16 kHz) frequency ranges were compared in a repeated-measures design.
  
  
  
  A total of 70 ears of adults with normal hearing.
  
  
  
  Thresholds obtained using NBN were significantly lower than thresholds obtained using pure tones from 0.5 to 16 kHz, but not 0.25 kHz. Good TRT reproducibility (within 2 dB) was observed for both stimuli at all frequencies. Responses at the lower limit of the presentation range for NBN centred at 14 and 16 kHz suggest unreliability for NBN as a threshold stimulus at these frequencies.
  
  
  
  Thresholds in the conventional and EHF ranges showed good test-retest reproducibility, but differed between stimulus types. Care should be taken when comparing pure-tone thresholds with NBN thresholds especially at these frequencies.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders , University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center , Oklahoma City , OK , USA.
authors.forename: Andrew B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: John
authors.affiliation: c Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology , Calvin College , Grand Rapids , MI , USA.
authors.forename: Brian M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kreisman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Behavioural measures; instrumentation; noise; psychoacoustics/hearing; science