Békésy Audiometry in Animals

Progress in cochlear physiology after Békésy.

In the fifty years since Békésy was awarded the Nobel Prize, cochlear physiology has blossomed. Many topics that are now current are things Békésy could not have imagined. In this review we start by describing progress in understanding the origin of cochlear gross potentials, particularly the cochlear microphonic, an area in which Békésy had extensive experience. We then review progress in area...

In-situ audiometry: How close is it to conventional audiometry?

Technology in the hearing aid industry is ever changing. One of the many features that may improve accuracy of hearing aid fi ttings and patients ’ satisfaction is the inception of in-situ audiometry, which allows the clinician to measure hearing thresholds with a hearing aid in the patient ’ s ear. Objective : The present study aimed to investigate the validity of in-situ audiometry measured w...

In-situ audiometry

Response method in audiometry.

PURPOSE This study compared the speed, false-alarm rate, and participant preference of different response methods (raising a hand, pushing a response button, and giving an oral response) for measuring pure-tone thresholds. METHOD Thirty female university students with normal hearing participated. Response method order was randomly assigned to 6 different groups. Air-conduction thresholds were...

Experiments in comparative hearing: Georg von Békésy and beyond.

Georg von Békésy was one of the first comparative auditory researchers. He not only studied basilar membrane (BM) movements in a range of mammals of widely different sizes, he also worked on the chicken basilar papilla and the frog middle ear. We show that, in mammals, at least, his data do not differ from those that could be collected using modern techniques but with the same, very loud sounds...