The acoustic reflex threshold for impulses

✍ Scribed by M.E. Lutman; A.M. Martin

• Book ID: 104153991
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1977
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 747 KB
• Volume: 51
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-460X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0022-460x(77)80115-6

✦ Synopsis

Acoustic reflex thresholds, measured as changes in the acoustic admittance of the eardrum, were obtained from normal human subjects for various stimuli, presented as pulses with either rectangular or exponentially-decaying sound pressure envelopes. The influence of the frequency of the probe tone of the admittance measurement system on the reflex threshold was also investigated.

The reflex threshold for exponentially-decaying pulses was found to be about 7 dB higher in terms of peak sound level than for rectangular pulses with the same total duration. This difference may be explained in terms of the dynamics of the reflex response. Reflex thresholds measured with a 660 Hz probe tone were found to be approximately 3 dB lower than with a 220 Hz probe tone. A significant correlation was found to exist between the magnitude of response of the reflex and the resting eardrum admittance. The effect of this on the measurement of the reflex threshold is discussed.