High-frequency hearing thresholds in young adults using a commercially available audiometer.

Test and re-test high-frequency (10-20 kHz) thresholds were obtained for 200 ears of 100 normally hearing (0.25-8 kHz) young adults (18-28 years old) using a Beltone 2000 audiometer and Sennheiser HD 250 earphones referenced to sound pressure levels developed in a Bruel and Kjaer flat-plate coupler. Normative high-frequency thresholds could not be recommended for clinical use due to the very large intersubject threshold variability. This occurred even though test versus re-test thresholds were not significantly different (p greater than 0.05) at any frequency. However, comparisons of the test minus re-test threshold for individual ears were within a clinically acceptable range of +/- 10 dB for at least 95% of the ears at each frequency. Future research should concern intrasubject threshold reliability and variability rather than specifying intersubject normative thresholds.