Threshold Measurement for Patients With Tinnitus

Pulsed or Continuous Tones

¹ University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

bert{at}epx.cis.umn.edu

This study compared the effectiveness of pulsed tones (200 ms on/200 ms off) and continuous tones (1 to 2 s) for measuring thresholds in patients with tinnitus. Sixty veterans with tonal tinnitus and a history consistent with noise-induced hearing loss participated. Half were assigned to a pulsed-tone group; half were assigned to a continuous-tone group. Air-conduction thresholds were measured twice for each patient in a single session for octave intervals between 250 Hz and 4000 Hz. Results indicated no significant difference between groups for test-retest differences, but overall more presentations were required to measure thresholds with continuous tones than with pulsed tones at 4000 Hz. Moreover, the continuous-tone group had, on average, more false-positive responses than the pulsed-tone group. This study supports the clinical belief that pulsed tones are preferred over continuous tones for measuring thresholds for persons with tinnitus.

Key Words: threshold, tinnitus, hearing loss

Submitted on September 7, 1995
Accepted on April 1, 1996

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. A. Henry, T. L. Zaugg, P. J. Myers, and M. A. Schechter The Role of Audiologic Evaluation in Progressive Audiologic Tinnitus Management Trends in Amplification, September 1, 2008; 12(3): 170 - 187. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. J. DiGiovanni and J. N. Repka Response Method in Audiometry Am J Audiol, December 1, 2007; 16(2): 145 - 148. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]