Distribution characteristics of normal pure-tone thresholds.
Objective:This study examined the statistical properties of normal air-conduction thresholds obtained with automated and manual audiometry to test the hypothesis that thresholds are normally distributed and to examine the distributions for evidence of bias in manual testing.Design:Four databases wer...
| Published in: | International Journal of Audiology Vol. 54; no. 11; pp. 796 - 806 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | equations & formulas research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Nov2015
|
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=109969095&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 109969095 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 14992027 JW2 jtl: International Journal of Audiology issn: 14992027 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Nov2015 vid: 54 iid: 11 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 109969095 109969095 109969095 10.3109/14992027.2015.1033656 NLM25938502 109969095 ppf: 796 ppct: 10 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Distribution characteristics of normal pure-tone thresholds. aug: au: Margolis, Robert H. Wilson, Richard H. Popelka, Gerald R. Eikelboom, Robert H. Swanepoel, De Wet Saly, George L. affil: Audiology Incorporated, Arden Hills, Minnesota, USA sug: subj: Audiometry Hearing Hearing Tests Human Air Conduction Surveys Middle Age Aged Male Female Adolescence Adult Funding Source Middle Aged: 45-64 years Aged: 65+ years Adolescent: 13-18 years Adult: 19-44 years Male Female ab: Objective:This study examined the statistical properties of normal air-conduction thresholds obtained with automated and manual audiometry to test the hypothesis that thresholds are normally distributed and to examine the distributions for evidence of bias in manual testing.Design:Four databases were mined for normal thresholds. One contained audiograms obtained with an automated method. The other three were obtained with manual audiometry. Frequency distributions were examined for four test frequencies (250, 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz).Study sample:The analysis is based on 317 569 threshold determinations of 80 547 subjects from four clinical databases.Results:Frequency distributions of thresholds obtained with automated audiometry are normal in form. Corrected for age, the mean thresholds are within 1.5 dB of reference equivalent threshold sound pressure levels. Frequency distributions of thresholds obtained by manual audiometry are shifted toward higher thresholds. Two of the three datasets obtained by manual audiometry are positively skewed.Conclusions:The positive shift and skew of the manual audiometry data may result from tester bias. The striking scarcity of thresholds below 0 dB HL suggests that audiologists place less importance on identifying low thresholds than they do for higher-level thresholds. We refer to this as theGood enough biasand suggest that it may be responsible for differences in distributions of thresholds obtained by automated and manual audiometry. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: equations & formulas research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|