Audiometry with different earphones

Audiometry is done in hospitals and hearing clinics all over the world to assess the hearing abilities of patients and possible hearing losses. The sound stimuli are often presented using earphones, so that one ear can be tested separately. There is a choice of a number of different earphones, which are standardized for this purpose. In spite of the standardization, the results of the hearing test would seem to depend on which earphone was used. This is of course unsatisfactory and in the present project it is examined how large an influence the earphones have on the results of the hearing test. Five different earphones are tested on a group of normal hearing young people. The preliminary results show a significant dependency on the earphones. (STVF/FTP framework programme. In 2003 with the participation of Brian Lykkegaard Karlsen)