Threshold Equalizing Noise Test Reveals Suprathreshold Loss of Hearing Function, Even in the "Normal" Audiogram Range.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The threshold equalizing noise (TEN(HL)) is a clinically administered test to detect cochlear "dead regions" (i.e., regions of loss of inner hair cell [IHC] connectivity), using a "pass/fail" criterion based on the degree of elevation of a masked threshold in a tone-detection task. With sensorineural hearing loss, some elevation of the masked threshold is commonly observed but usually insufficient to create a "fail" diagnosis. The experiment reported here investigated whether the gray area between pass and fail contained information that correlated with factors such as age or cumulative high-level noise exposure (>100 dBA sound pressure levels), possibly indicative of damage to cochlear structures other than the more commonly implicated outer hair cells.

Design

On

SUBMITTER: Stone MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9197144 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul-Aug 01

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature