COMPARISON OF CONTINUOUS AND PULSED TONES FOR DETERMINING BEKESY THRESHOLD MEASUREMENTS

Two studies were performed to determine the parameters affecting the sensitivity and variability of Békésy thresholds. The first study was concerned with the effects of varying period, duty cycle, and frequency on threshold measurements obtained using pulsed tones and was done to derive an “optimal” pulsed tone. The second study compared thresholds taken using the optimized pulsed tone to those obtained with continuous tones. The effects of varying attenuation rate with both types of presentation were also investigated. Pulsed tones were found to yield superior threshold measurements both in terms of greater sensitivity and less intratest variability. Also, continuous tone thresholds were found to be susceptible to changes in attenuation rate whereas pulsed tone thresholds were not. © 1969, Acoustical Society of America. All rights reserved.