(Testing of Hearing Acuity ) Audiometry Testing of Hearing Acuity: The test will
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Question
(Testing of Hearing Acuity )
Audiometry
Testing of Hearing Acuity:
The test will examine the minimal threshold (energy of sound wave, decibels or dB) for hearing in both left and right ears at the
following frequencies (125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz, and 8000 Hz). At each frequency, you will determine the level at which the sound can just be heard. The level below this will not be heard and the level of above will result in a greater response in the cochlea leading to a response within the cochlea or a sense of the sound being “louder”. By determining the minimal threshold you will be able to develop an audiogram that maps the function of the cochlea or the ability for the person to hear or their level of deafness. Note that the subjects should be able to respond at energy levels of at most 50dB between 750 and 4000 Hz, normal range of frequencies of speech. Anything above this threshold level can be seen as an indication of receptor desensitization and can progress to deafness at the frequency. There are several factors that can lead to changes in the responsiveness of the cochlea that include, history of loud noise exposure and age (just to name a few). Based on noise in theroom, results you obtain in laboratory do not accurately reflect your hearing ability due to extraneous noise.
IN YOUR OWN WORDS, Why is there a loss at specific frequencies? Describe the results of this test if one of the subjects exhibited " Sensineural Deafness" versus "Conductive Deafness"? Can one tell from this experiment if any apparent hearing loss is due to sensineural or conductive deafness? why? or why not?
Explanation / Answer
The reason some frequencies are not processed well is because the cochlea is designed to receive frequency of a particular range. It transforms the frequency into nerve signals. It is an evolutionary process which allows different organisms to function differently according to their species peculiarity and habits.
As given in the experiment, any response to sound waves above a 50 db threshold is seen as deafness and also an indicator of receptor desensitization. Sensineural deafness is caused when the sensory neurons processing sound waves are not working optimally. Conductive deafness is caused when the sound waves do not reach the sensory neurons due to anatomical defects of outer ear structure which is designed specifically to catch sound waves. Hence in either case the result is deafness.
It is not possible to tell whether the apparent hearing loss is due to sensineural or conductive deafness since no prerequisites are provided in the experiment for the same.
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