The Impact of Transducer Selection on the Acceptable Noise Level.

PURPOSE  The aim of this study was to assess the impact of transducer (loudspeaker, supra-aural headphones, and insert earphones) selection on the acceptable noise level (ANL). STUDY SAMPLE  Thirty young adults with normal hearing who reported difficulty with background noise served as participants. RESEARCH DESIGN  A repeated-measures experimental design was employed. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS  Most comfortable listening level (MCL) and background noise level (BNL) were measured for all participants using three transducers (loudspeaker, supra-aural headphones, and insert earphones). ANL was computed as the difference between the mean MCL and the mean BNL. RESULTS  Analytical statistics revealed that ANL did not differ due to the transducer used. However, there were statistically significant differences found for MCL and BNL across transducers. CONCLUSIONS  Results of this study indicate that ANL is not vulnerable to the selection of transducer and that ANLs can be compared across transducer types. Researchers should cautiously interpret findings across studies when discussing the base measures of MCL and BNL as these may be influenced slightly by transducer selection.