Abstract
CONTINUED investigation similar to that described elsewhere1 has provided evidence for the view that the phenomenon designated auditory fatigue by Ewing and Littler2 and Bawdon-Smith1 is in reality the result of the intervention of certain cortical factors. The marked decrease in sensitivity of the human ear following upon stimulation by loud pure tones for several minutes is, it has been found, not confined to the ear stimulated. The nominally unstimulated ear suffers a loss of sensitivity sometimes as great as that in the stimulated ear. Further, the loss of sensitivity in either may be temporarily removed or lessened in many cases by subjecting the observer to an unexpected stimulus (such as momentary darkness). This will be clear from Fig. 1.
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References
A. F. Rawdon-Smith, Brit. J. Psychol., 25, 1, 77; 1934.
A. W. G. Ewing and T. S. Littler, Brit. J. Psychol., 25, 3, 284; 1935.
I. P. Pavlov (tr. G. V. Anrep), ” Conditioned Reflexes” Oxford Univ. Press, 1927.
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RAWDON-SMITH, A. Experimental Deafness. Nature 136, 32 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136032b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136032b0
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