• Bayesian simulation of hearing...

*Result*: Bayesian simulation of hearing thresholds at conventional and extended high frequencies in young adults.

Title:
Bayesian simulation of hearing thresholds at conventional and extended high frequencies in young adults.
Authors:
Shahnaz N; School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, 2177 Wesbrook Mall, Friedman Building, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada. Electronic address: nshahnaz@audiospeech.ubc.ca., Ciocca V; School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, 2177 Wesbrook Mall, Friedman Building, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Source:
Hearing research [Hear Res] 2026 Mar; Vol. 472, pp. 109547. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jan 20.
Publication Type:
Journal Article
Language:
English
Journal Info:
Publisher: Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 7900445 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1878-5891 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 03785955 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Hear Res Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s):
Original Publication: Amsterdam, Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press.
MeSH Terms:
Auditory Threshold* , Hearing* , Computer Simulation*, Humans ; Bayes Theorem ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Adolescent ; Male ; Female ; Audiometry, Pure-Tone ; Acoustic Stimulation ; Age Factors
Contributed Indexing:
Keywords: Audiometric norms; Bayesian multilevel regression; Conventional frequencies; Extended high frequencies (EHFs); Hearing thresholds; Reference equivalent threshold sound pressure levels (RETSPLs)
Entry Date(s):
Date Created: 20260125 Date Completed: 20260305 Latest Revision: 20260305
Update Code:
20260306
DOI:
10.1016/j.heares.2026.109547
PMID:
41581417
Database:
MEDLINE

*Further Information*

*The goal of this study was to characterize the population-level distributions of hearing thresholds at conventional and extended high frequencies (EHFs). To achieve this goal, distributions of typical hearing thresholds expressed in dB SPL were measured in an otologically normal young-adult sample. Thresholds were obtained using an adaptive procedure with the Sennheiser HDA-200 earphone. Thresholds were measured at 16 frequencies, ranging from 250 Hz to 16 kHz, in a non-random sample of 126 young adults (18-36 years old) with typical hearing (≤ 20 dB HL at conventional frequencies). Using the posterior of a Bayesian multilevel distributional regression model that was fit to the data, we simulated hearing thresholds at conventional and extended high frequencies for 18,000 new participants. The simulated thresholds were used to calculate probabilistic estimates of the reference equivalent threshold sound pressure levels (RETSPLs) and other percentiles of the distributions of hearing thresholds at each frequency. We used these percentile estimates to define the range of typical hearing sensitivity in dB SPL and found that this range varies across frequency, unlike the current fixed 20-25 dB HL cutoffs that are used to classify "normal" hearing. Specifically, at conventional frequencies, the fixed 20-25 dB HL cutoffs overestimated the range of typical thresholds, whereas at extended high frequencies, the fixed cutoffs overestimated this range. The proposed probabilistic approach provides a framework for characterizing the information from pure tone thresholds in terms of the range of hearing sensitivity, rather than categorizing hearing ability on the basis of a frequency-invariant criterion.
(Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)*

*Declaration of Competing Interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper (Manuscript Number: HEARES-D-25-00356).*