[The Würzburg auditory field, a test for prosthetic audiometry]

In the past audiology was used solely to provide data of hearing acuity only for diagnostic reasons. Even today hearing aids are selected and fitted based on various diagnostic test procedures. Our test called "Das Würzburger Hörfeld" yields primarily prosthetic data. That test is based on the principle of absolute category scaling of loudness and defines an acoustic sensation using the parameters of frequency and intensity. The test subject ranks a norrow band noise, 1/3 octave, presented at various intensities into one of the five categories: Very soft, soft, middle loud, loud and very loud. Results are presented for subjects with and without hearing aids. The difference of both scaling experiments is the functional gain of the aid.