International Licensing Examination (ILE) Practice Test

Why is speech noise not used for pure tone testing?

1. It is too loud for testing

2. It is effective only for speech testing

3. It confuses the testing results

4. It interferes with sound clarity

The correct answer is: It is effective only for speech testing

The correct choice indicates that speech noise is only effective for speech testing because its characteristics are designed to assess an individual's ability to understand spoken language in various noise environments. In pure tone testing, the goal is to measure an individual's hearing thresholds at specific frequencies. Using speech noise in this context would not be appropriate, as the testing requires the clarity and precision of isolated pure tones to accurately determine hearing sensitivity. Speech noise is composed of multiple frequencies that fluctuate, which can obscure the pure tones being tested and yield inaccurate results. In pure tone audiometry, it's crucial to ensure that the person being tested hears distinct tones without any distractions or interference. This is why pure tone tests typically utilize calibrated pure tones rather than speech noise, which is effective in assessing listening skills but would not provide valid threshold measurements for hearing sensitivity.