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Auditory Behavior

Decent Essays

2. Topic: Development of Auditory Behavior
Hearing Sensitivity is the ability to detect acoustic energy and the most basic auditory function. Infants hearing sensitivity at birth is typically significantly worse than adult thresholds. To measure hearing sensitivity in adults, you perform a routine audiogram, but infants are not mature enough for this kind of testing, so we use Observer-Based Psychoacoustic Procedure or OPP. It was first used by Lynne Werner to study auditory behavior in young infants. For this test, the infant and their caregiver are in a room with a test assistant keeping child engaged. The adults have headphones on so they don’t hear the stimuli and give any hints to the child as are presented through the loud speakers. The …show more content…

Children need higher signal levels to detect the presence of sound. Higher frequencies become adult like before lower frequencies, because in humans there is a high frequency first maturation pattern. The Olsho et al. 1988 article plots the differences in thresholds between adults and 6-8 month infants, and the differences between adults and 10-12 month infants. They measured these results in sound field and under headphones. Thresholds under headphones are better because infant thresholds are better under headphones because of the size of their ear canals. It is important to take this into account when fitting hearing aids. This study also revealed that thresholds were closer to adult threshold at 10-12 months than at 6-8 months. Researchers have explained the mechanisms underlying the differences through the development of the auditory system. The cochlea is mature at birth, so it is not responsible for the difference in infant and adult thresholds. Until a person is 11 years old, their ossicles are ossifying and their cavity is improving, so your conductive apparatus is not fully mature until then. This causes major improvements from infancy to adulthood. Transmits energy more

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