Auditory tests present sounds in ascending steps from soft to uncomfortably loud

Evidence

A common procedure initially developed by Hawkins, Walden, Montgomery, and Prosek (1987) provides a listener with seven-to-nine loudness categories with words ranging from “very soft” to “painfully loud,” as illustrated in Figure 4–5. Presentation begins at a level that targets the “soft” category (a level approximately 20 dB SL, but may be lower depending on the degree of hearing loss). Upon hearing the sound, the patient categorizes the loudness using the scale provided. Stimulus level is increased in 5-dB steps (or possibly 2 dB for a patient with a very small dynamic range) until the patient indicates that the sound is uncomfortably loud. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 860

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Describes the standard ascending-method LDL measurement procedure and its step sizes.

Related

• Clinical LDL testing uses categorized loudness scaling with ascending stepped levels (similarity 0.92)
• Loudness is measured psycho-acoustically via magnitude estimation against a reference (similarity 0.83)
• Categorical loudness scaling measures uncomfortable and comfortable loudness levels using verbal categories (similarity 0.83)
• Categorical loudness scaling uses labeled bars from Not Heard to Too Loud (similarity 0.83)
• Categorical loudness scaling offers a clinically rapid, low-training test of suprathreshold hearing (similarity 0.83)
• Categorical loudness scaling delivers rapid clinical loudness estimates without a reference. (similarity 0.83)
• Categorical loudness measurements use fixed repeated stimuli spanning the dynamic range (similarity 0.82)
• Loudness discomfort levels are measured to fit hearing aids and assess hyperacusis (similarity 0.82)
• Loudness is measured by listeners assigning numbers relative to a reference sound. (similarity 0.82)
• Testing hearing-impaired listeners could reveal how loudness distortion maps to brain activity (similarity 0.81)
• Loudness is measured either by rating magnitude or by matching equal loudness (similarity 0.81)
• Loudness as perception can never be directly measured physiologically (similarity 0.81)
• Categorical loudness scaling is a fast, clinically usable loudness measure. (similarity 0.81)
• Adaptive staircases track a listener’s responses to set signal level (similarity 0.81)
• Smaller step sizes in audiometry detect feigned hearing loss (similarity 0.80)