Human Noise Experiments using a Temporary Threshold Shift Model

Measurement of temporary threshold shift (TTS) may serve as an experimental method to study possible interactive effects of factors that increase or decrease TTS. Interaction studies should preferably be conducted as controlled studies (i. e., each subject is exposed both to noise only and to noise in combination with the factor of interest) rather than exposing two different groups of subject and drawing conclusions from group differences. The amount of TTS acceptable from ethical standards is limited. Consequently, “the dosage” of both noise exposure and the interactive factor also have to be limited. Therefore, it is important to reduce the intra-individual variance in order to distinguish even small shifts between test conditions.