A user-operated audiometry method based on the maximum likelihood principle and the two-alternative forced-choice...

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Psychoacoustics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Traditional audiometry requires skilled operators and can be influenced by subjective response criteria.
• Musicians, often involved in research, require reliable hearing assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a user-operated pure-tone audiometry method using maximum likelihood (MML) and two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC).
• To achieve high test-retest reliability without external operators and minimize response criterion variability.
• To provide a user-friendly audiometry tool for research, especially for musicians.

Main Methods:

• The study evaluated the test-retest reliability of the developed user-operated audiometry system.
• A comparison was made between the user-operated system and traditional audiometry.
• 38 naive listeners participated in the reliability testing, and 41 subjects were involved in the comparison study.

Main Results:

• The user-operated 2AFC audiometry showed repeatability comparable to traditional methods, with standard deviations of differences ranging from 3.9 dB to 5.2 dB across 250-8000 Hz.
• Hearing thresholds obtained via user-operated 2AFC audiometry were slightly lower (1-2 dB) at most frequencies compared to traditional audiometry.

Conclusions:

• User-operated 2AFC audiometry requires no specialized skills and offers acceptable, reliable repeatability similar to traditional audiometry.
• This user-operated system is a viable and reliable alternative to conventional audiometry for research applications.