Using circumaural enclosures with children

Pure-tone thresholds were obtained from 24 children between the ages of eight and 13 years using a standard, supraaural cushion (MX-41/AR), and one of four circumaural cushions. Testing was performed in quiet and in the presence of wideband noise presented at 60 dB SPL fro three conditions: Condition 1 (test) used a TDH 39 driver mounted in the MX-41/AR cushion; Condition 2 (experimental) used the same TDH 39 driver mounted in one of the circumaural cushions under investigation; and Condition 3 (retest) which was the same as Condition 1. Statistically significant differences were found between thresholds with the MX-41/AR cushion and thresholds with one of the circumaural enclosures in quiet. In noise, thresholds with three of the circumaural enclosures were significantly lower than those with the MX-41/AR cushion. A significant test/retest difference was observed for the MX-41/AR cushion at 6000 Hz in quiet only.