Abstract
The adequacy of the measurement method standard of the heptatonic pitch-matching test (HPMT) proposed by Ohsaki et al. in 1983 was investigated. Eighteen ears were examined for subjective tinnitus pitch using HPMT. Each test measured the tinnitus pitch successively 10 times. In the ten measured values, both the mode and its adjacent tone accounted for more than 70% of exery case. The measured value was sufficiently reproducible when the minimum unit width of this scale was regarded as the extent of phisiological variation. The ten measured values of each case were then classified into six types (A-F), and the coincident ratios between those six types of measured value and the mode were compared for every case. The coincident ratios between the mode and both measured values-same value obtained (A) twice in succession or (B) twice at first but not necessarily in succession after two preliminary attempts, were 94% and 89% respectively. These ratios were higher than the coincident ratios between the mode and four other kinds of measured values. When two preliminary attempts were made in the measurement of HPMT, the value A was adopted as the approximate frequeny value of tinnitus pitch.
Based on the above results, the standard of the measurement method appears adequate. On the other hand, the B value can reasonably be utilized as a brief measurement method.
