Relationship between auditory disability and auditory threshold in acute acoustic trauma: pilot study

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship existing between auditory disability, according to WHO 1980, and pure tone audiometry threshold in noise induced hearing loss. Disability was evaluated on the basis of a questionnaire submitted to 286 subjects with acoustic trauma. Answers obtained were considered reliable on the basis of statistical analysis. Results showed that subjects with disability have an higher pure tone threshold than subjects without auditory disability. However it appears difficult to determine a precise threshold level ever which auditory disability may be considered present. The Authors suggest that this limit could be determined on the basis of pure tone threshold at the 10th centile of the group of subjects with disability or at the 90th centile of subjects without disability.