[Relations and variability of the stapedial reflex threshold and psychoacoustic discomfort threshold]

Ten normal hearing subjects were subjected to repeated measurement of the stapedial reflex threshold (RT) and loudness discomfort threshold (DT) during five separate sessions. On the average DT was 4.8 dB higher than the RT. The sessions did not affect the intra-individual variance of either threshold. A regression analysis demonstrated that a significant linear relationship exists between RT and DT. However, DT may be lower than RT when the latter is shifted towards its upper variance boundary. Hence, RT and DT are not equivalent as indicators of the upper limit of loudness tolerance; since DT revealed a low intra-subject variance, such a psychoacoustic measurement may be reliably used for clinical purposes.