Effect of normobaric hypoxia on auditory sensitivity

Previous psychophysical studies of hypoxia's effects on auditory sensitivity have provided mixed results but the weight of evidence supports the conclusion that sensitivity is unaffected by hypoxia. This conclusion is discrepant with that drawn from physiological studies in which hypoxia has been found to affect auditory-evoked response (AER) latency. One possible explanation of this discrepancy concerns the relatively low maximum frequency (8 kHz) for which hypoxia's effects were assessed in the psychophysical studies. We have extended the range of frequencies over which hypoxia's effects have been examined to include frequencies up to 16 kHz. Thresholds for 1-, 8-, 10-, 12-, 14- and 16-kHz tones were measured at levels of hypoxia equivalent to altitudes of 0, 1,200, 2,400 and 3,700 m. Our results indicate that sensitivity for frequencies up to 16 kHz is unaffected by hypoxia. We suggest that AER latency does not provide a valid measure of auditory sensitivity.