Twenty subjects with normal hearing were subjected to four series of twenty one-minute exposures of a 3 000 cps tone. Each series of exposure tones was presented at one of four sound pressure levels: 85 dB, 90 dB, 95 dB, or 100 dB above 0.0002 microbar. The time required for threshold for a 4 500 cps pulsed tone to recover to within 20 dB and 10 dB of pre-exposure level was measured after each one-minute exposure. The pattern of recovery times indicated that (a) there is a critical intensity (95 dB in the present conditions) below which adaptation is evoked and above which cumulative fatigue results from exposure, and (b) cumulative fatigue holds more promise than adaptation in the development of a noise-susceptibility test.
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