Dear Auditory List,
I am a master’s student working under Andrea Halpern at Bucknell University. We are running some auditory imagery studies with older (60-85 years) adults, and we are using audiometry to screen their hearing. Some of the environmental sounds we are asking participants to imagine involve somewhat high frequencies.
I understand that pure tone averages greater than 25 dB HL are considered to characterize hearing loss; however, as some hearing loss is expected with aging, I am wondering whether anyone can point me to some best practices or suggestions regarding the inclusion of older adults with slight hearing loss. It's not a psychophysical study, but the participants do need to be able to hear and imagine the sounds reasonably accurately.
Thanks in advance for your help,
Arley Schenker