[The question of the term "presbyacusis" (author's transl)].

Tone threshold, SISI-test, Langenbeck test, Békésy audiometry, tympanometry, acoustico-facial reflex, speech audiometry and dichotic discrimination test were performed in a selected group of 252 patients. Statistical analysis demonstrated that those forms of hearing which are generally considered to be presbyacusis are sensory hearing impairments and not neural ones (as previously considered). These peripheral functional disorders, particularly those which occur in older individuals, derive from preceding injury as well as intercurrent or chronic diseases of the inner ear which may be coincidentally associated with age. The real aging process of the hearing system is presumed to occur predominantly in central pathways and their interconnections; this appears as a hearing disorder only if there is additionally present a peripheral hearing impairment which is not dependent on age. As this differs greatly among individuals, it would seem that the term "prebyacusis" should not be considered a hearing norm of aging.