Some Effects of Bone-Conducted Masking

Abstract

Twenty subjects with normal hearing and 20 subjects with sensori-neural hearing loss were examined relative to the effects of wide- and narrow-band white noise delivered by bone conduction at the forehead; differences between thresholds with interrupted- and continuous-tone presentation under the conditions of quiet, wide-band noise, narrow-band noise; the difference between threshold shifts at 1 000 and 2 000 cps when the SAL masking technique is used; and differences between SAL and conventional bone-conduction thresholds at 1 000 or 2 000 cps. Narrow-band noise produced less shift than wide-band noise under all conditions Differences between interrupted- and continuous-tone presentation yielded better thresholds. Shifts at 1 000 cps and 2 000 cps were significantly different, with the shift at 1 000 cps being greater.