On the overload effect of sound impulses to the inner ear

Test series with both continuous and intermittent sound exposure to guinea pig ears yielded an area within the coordinates load frequency and load level in which a dose principle is valid more or less exactly. Exceeding the upper (level) borderline of this area provokes a damage of the organ of Corti nearly independent of the load dose. Sound levels of such order of magnitude mainly occur at sound impulses. However, to estimate the hair-cell damaging effect of a given sound impulse one needs its time or frequency function in addition to the peak level. A first order approximation seems to be possible by means of a 1/3-octave band level analysis.