Abstract
THE difficulty in securing accurate values of the minimum stimulus that the ear can detect is great. In the first place there are differences in the hearing mechanisms of various individuals tested. Except for those with some definite hearing defect, these differences largely depend on age ; as one grows older the response of the ear becomes less, chiefly at the higher frequencies. Measurements of minimum hearing stimulus thus vary with the age of those being tested. Another difficulty is in measuring the minimum stimulus. According to an article by W. A. Munson (Bell Lab. Rec., 21, No. 10 ; June 1943) two references have been widely used. One is the rms. pressure of the sound wave at a point in a free sound field where the listener's ear will later be placed. This is the simpler of the two, and is particularly applicable to studies of the usual mode of hearing, that is, without the use of telephone receivers or similar devices. The other is the pressure at the ear-drum. This reference avoids uncertainty as to how the pressure, measured in the air previously to the listening test, would be modified at the ear-drum by the head and ear of the listener, and is particularly useful in studying the mechanism of hearing. It involves great technical difficulties, however, since the space in front of the ear-drum is small and almost inaccessible.
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SENSITIVITY OF THE EAR. Nature 152, 453 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/152453a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/152453a0