Assistive Listening Knowledge Base
  • Peer-reviewed study

Effects of hearing loss on echo thresholds

From https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/roberts-2002/ · record checked 9 October 2026

  • Roberts RA, Besing J, Koehnke J
  • Ear and Hearing 23(4):349-357

Independent (University of South Florida)

Summary

Compared echo thresholds, the delay at which two sounds are heard as two, between listeners with normal hearing and with hearing loss.

Key findings

  • 8 listeners with normal hearing and 9 with hearing loss; pairs of 4 ms noise bursts 2 to 16 ms apart, at 10 to 50 dB sensation level.
  • Listeners with hearing loss had higher echo thresholds than listeners with normal hearing.
  • In both groups, echo thresholds at 10 dB sensation level were significantly higher than at 40 dB.

Limits

Short noise bursts and delays up to 16 ms; not speech and not the longer delays found in large rooms.

Read the original

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12195177

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Cited in

Cite this source

Roberts RA, Besing J, Koehnke J. Effects of hearing loss on echo thresholds. Ear and Hearing 23(4):349-357. August 2002. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12195177 (accessed 9 October 2026).

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