[Relations between pure-tone threshold and discrimination of monosyllables in inner ear high-frequency hearing...

To prove earlier studies with similar subjects (Lehnhardt 1973, 1977) we examined the report of 613 patients (1046 ears) with inner ear high frequency hearing disorders in order to find a correlation between the pure tone threshold and discrimination for monosyllables. The present data again confirm a close correlation between the pure tone hearing loss above 40 dB (HL) at the frequencies 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 Hz and the percentage discrimination for monosyllables at 65 dB speech intensity level. Furthermore, in progressive high tone deafness with residual hearing in the low frequency range alone, correlations can be shown between the hearing loss above 40 dB in the frequencies 500 and 250 Hz on one hand and the discrimination for monosyllables at intensity levels of 80 and 95 dB on the other hand. These correlations have been converted into a table to enable a recognition of these connections without further calculation. They should be taken into consideration in routine audiometry and in legal cases especially. Greater differences in results indicate errors in testing or calibration; in individual cases they may be a hint of an uncommon origin of the hearing disease.