Time and Frequency Characteristics of Temporary Threshold Shifts Caused by Pure Tone Exposures
The time-frequency characteristics of Temporary Threshold Shifts (TTS) caused by pure tones were determined using the Békésy audiometric method with narrow-band noise of short duration as the probe stimuli. Two experiments were done using exposures of 3 min at 100 dB above
threshold. In the first experiment, the frequency dependent characteristics of TTS produced by a 500-Hz tone were assessed. Thresholds were determined from 0.25 to 2 kHz in 1/
2-octave steps for up to 20 min after the exposure. The results showed that the maximum affected
frequency was 1/
2 octave above the exposure frequency. In the second experiment, the TTS recovery curve produced by a 1-kHz pure tone exposure was assessed at 1.5 kHz, at approximately 15 s intervals for the first 5 min and at regularly increasing intervals up to 45 min after
the exposure. The results showed a maximum in the recovery around 2 min after the exposure. The data gathered in these experiments were used to construct a mathematical model of TTS recovery. The model describes both the 1/
2-octave shift and the 2-min bounce and it can be
used in the comparison of temporary changes in the auditory function, assessed at different times and frequencies.
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 September 2011
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content