Intensity just-noticeable differences at equal-loudness levels in normal and pathological ears

Abstract

The relationship between loudness level and intensity discrimination was investigated in the frequency range 0.5-6.5 kHz by comparing the intensity just-noticeable differences (jnd's) at a number of equal-loudness levels in the better and poorer ears of eight individuals with essentially unilateral hearing loss of cochlear origin. Such hearing loss usually produces loudness recruitment, altering the relationships among the loudness, sound-pressure level (SPL), and sensation-level (SL) variables, so that their effects can be separated. In these experiments, the jnd's were correlated with loudness level, not SPL or SL. Although, in some listeners, there were significant differences between jnd's in the two ears at some binaurally equal-loudness levels, they were not systematic over the group of listeners. Statistically, there was no significant difference between equal-loudness jnd's in the two ears, whereas the corresponding SLs and SPLs were significantly different. The rate of loudness growth had no effect on the jnd's. As expected from the near-miss to Weber's law, the mean jnd's decreased with sound intensity. The corresponding decrease in the mean Weber fraction, delta I/I, was accompanied by a decrement in its intrasubject standard deviation. The latter was correlated with the mean, independent of its relationship to SPL or SL.