Purpose: To observe changes in hearing in adulthood.

While some physiological degeneration contributes to hearing losses in older adulthood, lifelong exposure to environmental noise can contribute to these as well, and they could start in young adulthood. Of course, exposure is variable among individuals. Changes can involve the absolute threshold for hearing sounds, differential thresholds to discriminate sounds, or what sound frequencies can be heard. In this lab you will investigate whether one or more of these changes can be observed

Equipment:

1. A smart phone or tablet with a hearing test app (your choice) downloaded to the device
2. Earphones or headphones

Instructions:
First, determine whether the app you downloaded tests for absolute threshold (how loud must a sound be to hear it), differential threshold (discriminating between two sounds), or sound frequencies that can be heard, or a combination of these.

• Record this information on table

Follow the instructions in the app test yourself and then a friend/family member etc. If you can it would be good if you tested an individual in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and70s.

• Read results on the record sheet
NUMBER AGE RESULT NOTES
1 30-39

40-49       

50-59       

60-69       

70-79       

1. Describe your graphed line of the hearing test results. Was there a steady decline? Were there plateaus? Was there an age at which your results declined more steeply? (4 points)
2. Consider what your participants told you about environmental noise. Does their exposure to environmental noise account for any of your results? (6 points)
3. Would you say your results reflect aging, environmental noise exposure, or both? Why? ( 5points)