The effects of sophistication on three threshold tests for subjects with simulated hearing loss

Forty-five normal-hearing subjects were divided into three groups to determine the effects of listener sophistication on threshold estimates obtained with three commonly used tests for pseudohypacusis. A pure-tone Stenger test, speech Stenger test, and pure-tone delayed auditory feedback test were performed on each subject. The results indicate that increased sophistication levels allow subjects to simulate larger hearing losses on the two Stenger procedures. Sophistication level did not play a significant role in threshold determination with the delayed auditory feedback procedure, which was also found to be the closest indicator of true threshold.