Clinical masking: applicability of plateau and optimized methods in hearing thresholds testing

Area of Science:

• Audiology and Hearing Science
• Clinical Research

Background:

• Masking is crucial for accurate hearing threshold determination in specific audiological cases.
• The traditional plateau method has been standard for over 40 years.
• An optimized masking protocol was introduced in 2004 as an alternative.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the clinical feasibility of the plateau and optimized masking methods for hearing threshold testing.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of both methods across different hearing loss patterns.

Main Methods:

• 40 participants (15-65 years) with unilateral or bilateral hearing loss were studied.
• Air and bone conduction pure tone audiometry were performed with and without masking.
• Testing included unilateral, bilateral, symmetrical, and bone-only patterns.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant difference was found between plateau and optimized methods for air conduction thresholds.
• A higher percentage difference was observed for the symmetrical pattern in air conduction retests.
• A statistically significant difference existed between methods for bone conduction thresholds in symmetrical and bone-only patterns.

Conclusions:

• The plateau method is applicable to all hearing loss patterns.
• The optimized method is most effective for unilateral and bilateral hearing loss.
• Audiologists should understand both methods for optimal, reliable hearing threshold assessment.