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about the projectAdaptive categorical loudness Scaling (ACALOS)
ACALOS (adaptive categorical loudness scaling) is a psychoacoustic measurement procedure which determines the individual subjective loudness perception. It can be applied in the following areas:
- Diagnosing hearing loss
- Measuring recruitment
- Determining customization parameters for hearing aids with dynamic compression and cochlear implants
- Checking customization quality for hearing aids and cochlear implants
In loudness scaling, test signals are presented at different sound levels. The patient subjectively judges the perceived loudness of a signal using a given categorical scale including the categories “not heard”, “very soft”, “soft”, “medium”, “loud”, “very loud”, and “extremely loud”. The answers given are transformed into a number between 0 (“not heard”) and 50 (“extremely loud”), and they are plotted as a function of test signal sound level. In a diagram showing hearing range as a function of frequency, equal loudness curves can be plotted for the entire frequency range.
The categorical loudness scaling software includes the following:
- Narrow-band noise with mid-range frequencies 125, 250, 500, 1k 1.5k, 2k, 3k, 4k, 6k, 8k, 10k Hz.
Example: - Broadband, speech-simulating noise signals from the everyday sentences tests and the matrix sentence tests.
Example: - User-defined, wide-band signals may be used after proper installation and calibration
- Automatic adaptive sound level regulation or defined sound level intervals / distances (individually adjustable)
ACALOS is a standard test, which means that it is recommended to be executed for every patient.
Information about the software version of the test.
Literature:
Brand T, Hohmann V (2002) An adaptive procedure for categorical loudness scaling. J Acoust Soc Am 112:1597-1604
Partner institutions:
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HörTech gGmbH, Oldenburg |
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Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH |
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Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg |
Further test procedures in the Auditory Profile.