Consideration of Methodology and Measures of Loudness

The experimental and methodological studies presented in this collection of seven reports represents the culmination of a dedicated research effort that spans 15 years and includes completion of a Phase I clinical trial, which we described in a previous issue of Seminars in Hearing, 2015; 36(2), 77–109. The latter trial revealed initial evidence of efficacy for a promising sound therapy-based intervention, specifically crafted to promote auditory dynamic range expansion among hearing-aid candidates with reduced sound tolerance and limited dynamic ranges for loudness. In this issue, we extend the scope of that original research to a range of topics that arose in planning and conducting our Phase I trial. Ultimately, the focus of this monograph is on measures of loudness and sound tolerance, and mechanisms and factors that control and influence these clinically relevant measures, especially as these may relate to prescriptive hearing-aid fitting.

Our collaborative multidisciplinary research team represents significant and substantive contributors from engineering, epidemiology, industry, and audiology, including students at the University of Maryland and the University of Alabama. We gratefully acknowledge these important contributions, NIDCD sponsorship of this research through a public health service award (RO1DC04678), and support for reprints of this monograph from General Hearing Instruments, Inc. Harahan, Louisiana, which engineered the sound-therapy treatment devices used in our research. We also thank Dr. Catherine Palmer and Ms. Joycelyn Reid for their patience and encouragement in the preparation of this issue.