Comparison of One New and Three Old Tests of Auditory Adaptation

Abstract

The Carhart and the Rosenberg tonedecay tests, Bekesy audiometry, and a new tone-decay test begun at 20-dB sensation level (SL) were administered to patients having hearing impairments due to Meniere disease, acoustic trauma, presbycusis, or confirmed eighth nerve tumors. Excess adaptation was rare in the cochlear groups. Nineteen of twenty cases of eighth nerve tumor revealed decay of 35 dB or greater when tested with the Carhart and the 20-dB SL procedures. Only 13 of them showed excess decay during the one-minute Rosenberg test, and only 14 yielded type III or IV Bekesy tracings. Neither the Rosenberg test nor Bekesy audiometry should be the method of choice for detection of excess adaptation in retrocochlear lesions; a tone-decay test beginning at 20-dB SL is preferred.