Lentz Jennifer J, Walker Matthew A, Short Ciara E, Skinner Kimberly G
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Am J Audiol. 2017 Sep 18;26(3):328-337. doi: 10.1044/2017_AJA-17-0009.
This study evaluated the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's recommendation that audiometric testing for patients with tinnitus should use pulsed or warble tones. Using listeners with varied audiometric configurations and tinnitus statuses, we asked whether steady, pulsed, and warble tones yielded similar audiometric thresholds, and which tone type was preferred.
Audiometric thresholds (octave frequencies from 0.25-16 kHz) were measured using steady, pulsed, and warble tones in 61 listeners, who were divided into 4 groups on the basis of hearing and tinnitus status. Participants rated the appeal and difficulty of each tone type on a 1-5 scale and selected a preferred type.
For all groups, thresholds were lower for warble than for pulsed and steady tones, with the largest effects above 4 kHz. Appeal ratings did not differ across tone type, but the steady tone was rated as more difficult than the warble and pulsed tones. Participants generally preferred pulsed and warble tones.
Pulsed tones provide advantages over steady and warble tones for patients regardless of hearing or tinnitus status. Although listeners preferred pulsed and warble tones to steady tones, pulsed tones are not susceptible to the effects of off-frequency listening, a consideration when testing listeners with sloping audiograms.
本研究评估了美国言语-语言-听力协会的建议，即对耳鸣患者进行听力测试时应使用脉冲音或啭音。我们以听力配置和耳鸣状态各异的听众为对象，探究稳态音、脉冲音和啭音所测得的听力阈值是否相似，以及哪种音调类型更受青睐。
对61名听众使用稳态音、脉冲音和啭音测量其听力阈值（0.25 - 16千赫兹的倍频程频率），这些听众根据听力和耳鸣状态分为4组。参与者对每种音调类型的吸引力和难度按1 - 5级进行评分，并选择一种偏好的类型。
对于所有组，啭音的阈值低于脉冲音和稳态音，在4千赫兹以上的影响最为显著。不同音调类型的吸引力评分没有差异，但稳态音被评为比啭音和脉冲音更难。参与者总体上更喜欢脉冲音和啭音。
无论听力或耳鸣状态如何，脉冲音对患者而言比稳态音和啭音具有优势。尽管听众更喜欢脉冲音和啭音而非稳态音，但脉冲音不易受到非频率听力效应的影响，这是对听力图呈斜坡状的听众进行测试时需要考虑的因素。
