Temporary Threshold Shifts Produced by Exposure to High-Frequency Noise

Four chinchillas, monaural and trained in behavioral audiometry, were exposed for 24 days in a diffuse-sound field to an octave-band noise centered at 4.0 k Hz. The octave-band levels (OBL re 0.0002 ubar) were 57 dB for Days 1 to 6; 65 dB for Days 7 to 12; 72 dB for Days 13 to 18; and 80 dB for Days 19 to 24. At regular intervals throughout the noise exposure each animal was removed from the noise and threshold measurements were made. For each level of noise, temporary threshold shift reached an asymptote. In the frequency region of maximum effect, the relation between temporary threshold shift and the level of the noise is given by the equation TTS 4 ∞ = 1.6 (OBL-47) where TTS 4 ∞ is the temporary threshold shift at asymptote measured at a postexposure time of four minutes. These results for a noise centered at 4.0 k Hz in combination with those results for a noise centered at 0.5 k Hz suggest that bands of noise produce equal TTS 4 ∞ when the levels of the noises are equated for the acoustic properties of the external ear (including the head) and the inner ear.