Threshold measurement method, not listener differences, caused the 10 dB gap

Evidence

Beasley’s survey results were problematic, however. In 1952, Dadson and King conducted a similar survey in England and found thresholds to be approximately 10 dB better than those reported in the United States. Studies were then conducted in a number of other countries, all of which conformed to the English measurements, and not those made in the United States. In an effort to determine the source of this discrepancy, Aram Glorig conducted another survey at the Wisconsin State Fair in 1954, in which the exact procedures used by Beasley were adopted. These data essentially replicated the results of Beasley, leading Glorig to return to the Wisconsin State Fair in 1955 and use a different method to estimate threshold, which adopted an ascending and descending method of limits. Using this procedure, Glorig found measurements to be in agreement with those obtained in the United Kingdom and Japan. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 104

Categorization

• XREF: The discovery that psychophysical method (ascending/descending method of limits) changes measured thresholds is a classic in signal detection theory and psychophysics — connects to Fechner’s and Stevens’ work on measurement methodology.