hearing threshold
Quietest detectable sound
The hearing threshold is the quietest sound a person can detect, typically measured in decibels across different frequencies.
Audiologists test hearing thresholds to assess hearing loss: Her hearing threshold at 4000 Hz indicated mild impairment.
The threshold varies by frequency—human ears are most sensitive to sounds in the speech range.
- cochleaSpiral hearing organ
- inner earBalance and hearing center
- audiogramHearing ability chart
- pure toneSingle-frequency sound wave
- tinnitusPerceived phantom ear sounds
ringing ears · audiometer · frequency · sound pressure level · tuning fork · quiet room · decibel level · amplitude · auditory nerve · loudness · barely audible · earphones · pitch · ossicles · noise exposure · muffled · listening · strain
- soundsound, sound waves, echoes, acoustics, vibrations
- hearingear, cochlea, deaf, deafness, eardrum
- Ear Healthear canal, ear drum, ear infections, ear pain, eardrum
- sensory testsvision test, eye test, eye exam, taste test, smell test
- thresholdslimit, brink, edge, boundary, cusp
- Psychoacousticsloudness, masking, timbre, auditory illusions, binaural beats