Showing papers by "Stig Arlinger published in 1991"

Audiometric profile in presbycusis.

Abstract: A group of 40 elderly subjects were evaluated using a variety of audiological tests. Their mean age was 68 years. They had all come to the clinic because of hearing problems. The subjects were selected for this study because no cause of their hearing loss could be found other than presbycusis. They all had the typical moderately sloping pure tone audiogram configuration. The pure tone average hearing loss (PTA, average of 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz) ranged from 11 to 70 dBHL with a median of 40. The average air-bone gap was 3 dB. In addition to pure tone audiometry the following tests were performed: most comfortable loudness level and uncomfortable loudness level for pure tone; stapedius reflex thresholds; speech recognition threshold and maximum speech recognition score in quiet; distorted speech recognition; detection thresholds for frequency and intensity glides of a pure tone; slow evoked cortical potentials in response to frequency and intensity glides of a pure tone. The test results, when compared with those obtained on young subjects with normal hearing and with cochlear lesions, show a mixture of characteristics typical of cochlear, retrocochlear and central lesions.

Normal hearing threshold levels in the low-frequency range determined by an insert earphone

Abstract: Hearing threshold levels have been determined in the low‐frequency range (20–500 Hz) on a group of 30 young normal‐hearing subjects using monaural stimulus presentation through an insert earphone (Etymotic Research ER‐3A). A retest was performed on half of the group to provide data on test–retest reliability. The mean hearing threshold levels obtained agree closely with the Minimum Audible Field data of ISO 226, however, with some deviation at the very lowest frequencies below 40 Hz. The test–retest difference results yielded mean values that averaged 1.15 dB with an average standard deviation across test frequencies of 3.9 dB. The results show that low‐frequency hearing thresholds for pure tones of frequencies from 40 Hz and up can be determined with acceptable validity and reliability by the use of this type of insert earphone.

Results of visual information processing tests in elderly people with presbycusis.

Abstract: In a group of 21 elderly subjects with mild to moderate hearing loss of presbycusis type, a series of tests of visual information processing was performed. Cortical-evoked potentials were recorded in response to flash and to checker-board pattern stimulation. Further, five speech reading tests were administered. The results obtained in this group of elderly subjects were compared to those of a group of young normal-hearing subjects and those of a group of young subjects with congenital hearing impairment. The visual-evoked potentials showed significantly smaller N1P2-amplitude in elderly subjects than in the other two groups for both flash and checker-board pattern stimulation. The average latency of the P2-component was shorter than in both the other two groups in response to checker-board pattern stimulation. The elderly subjects scored significantly less well than the young normal-hearing group on all five speech reading tests. Linear regression analysis between the results of the five speech reading tests and those of the latency and amplitude measures of the evoked visual responses showed no significant correlations.