8. If the patient indicates that the tone was audible at the same pitch for one minute, then the test is complete.
–
Store the test result in the
Tone Decay Box
.
9. If the patient indicates that the tone is no longer audible or changes pitch before one minute passes, increase the
level of the tone by 5 dB.
–
Reset the timer when you increase the level and begin timing again.
10. Continue increasing the tone by 5 dB until a level is reached at which the patient indicates that the tone is audible at
the same pitch for one minute.
11. If desired, test additional frequencies or the opposite ear.
12. Store the test result in the
Tone Decay
box.
5.2.2
Performing a pure tone Stenger
1. To perform this test, the pure tone thresholds for the chosen stimulus frequency should be at least 20 dB different in
each ear.
–
You must suspect that the patient is malingering.
2. Properly place the earphones.
–
Begin the test with the air conduction transducer.
3. Instruct the patient to push the button in response to the tone even if the sound is very soft.
4. Select Puretone Stenger in the Test Selector.
–
Make sure that the control panel of the Otosuite software is set to the correct transducer and desired routing, fre-
quency, and sound level.
–
Choose any frequency.
–
Set the level for the better ear at 10 dB above recorded threshold and set the level in the poorer ear at 10 dB
below recorded threshold.
5. Make sure that the
Stenger
box has appeared in the display.
6. Make sure that
Stim. Lock
is enabled and present the tone to both ears simultaneously.
7. If the patient truly has a hearing loss in the poorer ear, he/she will only hear the presented tone in the better ear and
will respond that the tone is present.
–
This is a negative Stenger response.
8. If the patient does not truly have a hearing loss in the poorer ear, he/she will only hear the presented tone in the
reportedly poorer ear. As the patient is trying to appear as if he/she has a hearing loss in that ear, the patient will not
respond to the tone.
–
This is a positive Stenger response.
9. Store the test result in the
Stenger
box.
5.2.3
Performing speech Stenger
1. To perform this test, the SRT should be at least 20 dB different in each ear.
–
You must suspect that the patient is malingering.
2. Properly place the earphones. Begin the test with the air conduction transducer.
3. Instruct the patient to repeat the word back to the examiner even if the word is very soft.
Madsen A450
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5 Examples of audiometric testing