Remote masking, brief tone audiometry and critical ratio in sensorineural hearing losses

Aim of this study is to evaluate in ears with different kinds of perceptive disorders the relationships between Critical Ratio (CR), Remote Masking (RM) and Brief Tone Audiometry (BTA) in order to analyse to what extent cochlear efficiency depends on functional properties of the mechanical extrasensorial structures and/or of the sensorial elements in the inner ear. Present results show that in ears with non retrocochlear sensorineural losses CR results are more often affected than RM and BTA. A reduced cochlear efficiency is related more to a failure of the mechanical properties than to dysfunctions of the cellular elements within the inner ear; presumably, micromechanisms not yet understood or unknown interfere with the efficiency of the cochlea.