Validity and Reliability of Bekesy Audiometry with Preschool Age Children

Abstract

This study investigated the validity and reliability of Bekesy audiometry with preschool-age children. Sixty preschool children, ages 3, 4, and 5, were chosen such that 20 children were in each of the three age groups. There were an equal number of male and female subjects in each group, and all had intelligence quotients of 90 or higher. Each subject was given a conventional pure-tone hearing evaluation, followed by a hearing test administered with a Bekesy audiometer. A retest session was conducted one week later. The results indicate that five-year-old children, when properly conditioned, can be tested with Bekesy audiometry and produce valid, reliable auditory threshold tracings. Some four-year-old children will trace a Bekesy audiometric threshold that is valid, whereas, other four-year-old children trace thresholds that are not a true representation of their actual auditory threshold. Typically, three-year-old children, as presently conditioned, are not candidates for Bekesy audiometry.