Visual scoring of the middle latency response

Interjudge validity and intrajudge reliability were studied in a task in which three sets of judges (scores) identified middle latency responses under varying conditions of intensity and number of stimuli per response. The results demonstrated that intensity level was the only factor that had a statistically significant effect on the scorers' judgments. As intensity decreased it became increasingly difficult to detect middle latency responses; however, silent controls were clearly identified as response absent. Definite trends were seen for the scorer groups as a function of experience; the experienced groups generally had slightly higher mean confidence levels and percent correct judgments than the naive scorers. Surprisingly, increasing the number of stimuli had no significant effect on the scorers' judgments. Last, intrajudge reliability was high across all scorers for all conditions except at 10 dB SL. Most of the unreliable judgments and difficulty in detection (interjudge validity) occurred at the 10 dB SL.