Case 16 Audiometry

S.T. WRS % @ HL
Right 45 76 75
Left 35 100 70

Word understanding testing was repeated at 95 dB HL with 60 dB EM contralaterally.  The score was 72%.

  • Is the word understanding score disproportionately low?
  • Was  masking needed when testing word recognition?  Was it needed but not done for SRT testing?
  • There are bone-air gaps, which theoretically should not occur.  What are potential reasons for them?

Due to the asymmetry, tone decay testing was conducted at 2k Hz. Results were negative on the left ear. In the right ear, the 5 dB SL tone decayed in 15 seconds, at 10 dB SL, it decayed in 35 seconds.  Testing was terminated due to time constraints.

  • What, if anything, do the tone decay findings indicate?