FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON AGE VARIATIONS IN AUDITORY ACUITY

Abstract

In an earlier paper¹is presented a statistical study of the records secured by testing the auditory acuity of 353 patients from the medical and surgical departments of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The results of the study indicate that if the averages of the thresholds are computed, there is a distinct loss of acuity in each successive decade for tones above 512 double vibrations, but the averages of the thresholds for tones of lower pitch are fairly constant for all patients regardless of age. The statement was made that "it is hoped that the information thus secured will make possible the statistical analysis of the auditory defects associated with cerebral arteriosclerosis, hypertension, hypotension, syphilis, nephritis, disturbances of the ductless glands, the various diseases of the blood, lesions of the central nervous system and other conditions." In this paper the age variations in auditory acuity in a group of 468