Interaural attenuation for tubephone insert earphones
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 14, 2026

A Lightweight, Headphones-based System for Manipulating Auditory Feedback in Songbirds
Published on: November 26, 2012
1Clinical Audiology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Abstract:
Interaural attenuation of pure tone and speech signals was evaluated for a new audiometric insert earphone, the ER-3A tubephone, and a conventional TDH-49P supra-aural earphone in seven unilaterally deaf adult subjects. These results validate and extend the interaural attenuation data reported by the manufacturer of the ER-3A and his associates. At frequencies of 0.5 to 1 kHz, mean interaural attenuation for the deeply inserted ER-3A decreased from 94+ dB to 81 dB, with the lowest value for any subject, 75 dB. Interaural attenuation for speech approximated that of the 1 to 2 kHz frequency range. The ER-3A tubephone provides significantly greater acoustic isolation between the two ears in the low-mid frequency audiometric range than the conventional supra-aural earphone.
Related Concept Videos
The Cochlea
Sound Intensity Level
The human ear can perceive an extensive range of sound intensity, necessitating the use of the logarithmic scale to define a physical quantity—the intensity level. It is a ratio of two intensities and hence a...
Sound Waves: Interference
Echo
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case, then the...
Anatomy of the Ear
Design Example

