Audiometric Configuration and Prediction of Threshold for Spondees

Abstract

The effects of audiometric configuration on the relationships between thresholds for spondees and for octave frequencies from 250 through 4000 Hz were ascertained for six groups of patients classified according to patterns of pure-tone loss. Major findings were: 1000 Hz (except in the group with marked high-frequency loss) was highly enough correlated with SRT to be a good predictor of the latter; adding a second frequency improved the prediction slightly; this second frequency varied with audiometric configuration; the relative weightings of the two contributing frequencies also varied, as did the correction constant that was required; and adding a third frequency did not produce practical improvement in predictability for SRT. Approximate clinical guidelines for estimating SRT from two frequencies emerge from these findings.