Effects of bandwidth and stimulus type on most comfortable loudness levels of hearing‐impaired listeners

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Abstract
Measurements were made of the effects of stimulus bandwidth and type (speech bands versus pure tones) on interfrequency differences at the most comfortable loudness level (MCL). The MCLs were measured for speech bands of three bandwidths (1/3 octave, 1 octave, and 1 2/3 octaves) at three frequencies (0.4 kHz, 1.25 kHz, and 3.15 kHz) for 11 sensorineurally hearing-impaired subjects (14 test ears). The MCLs were also measured with pulsed pure tones. It was found that bandwidth and stimulus type both had significant effects on interfrequency differences in MCLs. Also the mean speech band MCLs were significantly higher than the mean pure-tone MCLs. A subsidiary experiment suggested that, when bands of speech from different frquency regions are all presented at MCL, they will be approximately, but not prcisely, equal in loudness. The findings have implications for hearing aid selection procedures because most aim to amplify all frequency bands of speech to MCL, or equal loudness at a comfortable level. The use of different types or bandwidths of test stimuli would result in substantially different frequency response prescriptions in some cases.