Unpredictable sound presentation prevents subjects from faking hearing-loss test results
Evidence
The spring-loaded output key is used to present the sound, thereby giving the operator control of when the sound is being presented and removing any pattern of presentation that might allow the subject to predict when to expect the next sound. Such unpredictability adds to the overall power of the test, but in the context of hearing measurement, it is particularly important when hearing is being tested in the context of, at one extreme, a legal claim for damages being made for hearing loss due to noise-induced hearing loss or, at the other, a health screening for normal hearing as part of a job interview. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2343
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the broader theme of how test design must anticipate motivated subjects cheating, like Milgrom’s analysis of institutions solving information problems.
Related
- Smaller step sizes in audiometry detect feigned hearing loss (similarity 0.80)
- Blind-test design and task wording eliminate bias in hearing studies (similarity 0.79)
- Psychoacousticians test theories by deliberately creating sounds that current theories cannot explain. (similarity 0.79)
- Auditory experimentation resembles measuring an unreliable device against an unpredictable system (similarity 0.78)
- Speech testing can rely on typed self-report of correctly heard key words (similarity 0.78)
- Zero false positives during threshold testing signals feigned hearing loss (similarity 0.78)
- Physiological tests measure sound representation, never the perception itself (similarity 0.78)