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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

A Low Cost Setup for Behavioral Audiometry in Rodents
Published on: October 16, 2012
[A practical method to differentiate the sensations of hearing and feeling (auditory and vibration threshold) in the
Abstract:
An uncomplicated method to differentiate between an auditory and a vibration threshold. It is a well-known problem that it is very difficult or almost impossible to distinguish in a deaf person between the genuine auditory threshold, especially the bone conduction threshold, and a vibration threshold in the range of low frequencies up to 1000 cps. The studies conducted by the authors show that a frequency-modulated tone is extremely suitable for this purpose, because it is very easy to recognize a 5-6% frequency modulated tone of 5 dB (SL) by hearing, whereas it is almost impossible to detect it by feeling. The observations by Fastl (1978) regarding the large inter-individual variation of the frequency modulation threshold does not limit the study conducted by the authors, because the degree of modulation used is far above the threshold. It is not possible to use an amplitude-modulated tone for differentiation between the auditory and the vibration thresholds.
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