Abstract
The purpose of this investigation is to determine the correlation between the pitch discrimination and speech audiometry for an advanced age group.
In this study subjects are composed of thirty untrained aged men from 66 to 81 years.
The experimental method is in principle similar to the A-X method employed by other investigation, however the arrangement of test tones is different from the A-X method. Two kinds of test tones are arranged irregularly:
1) the reference signals (A) which are maintained constant, 2) the variable signals (X) which frequency are slightly different from the reference signals.
Subjects are required to detect the variable signals among the reference signals. Even untrained old aged subjects are able to understand this method. This method seems to be more adequate for the pitch discrimination test of untrained subjects than the other.
The following results were obtained:
1) The values of pitch discrimination in advanced age group are larger than in the young group.
2) In advanced age group obvious relation between the pitch discrimination test and the speech discrimination test could not be demonstrated.
3) It drows inferences from the above mentioned facts that the function of speech discrimination is so complicate, and the picth discrimination is nothing but a part of this function.
