Absolute Threshold of Hearing

The absolute threshold of hearing (ATH) is the minimum sound level of a pure tone that an average ear with normal hearing can hear with no other sound present. The absolute threshold relates to the sound that can just be heard by the organism. The absolute threshold is not a discrete point, and is therefore classed as the point at which a response is elicited a specified percentage of the time. This is also known as the auditory threshold.

The threshold of hearing is generally reported as the RMS sound pressure of 20 µPa (micropascals) = 2×10−5 pascal (Pa). It is approximately the quietest sound a young human with undamaged hearing can detect at 1,000 Hz. The threshold of hearing is frequency dependent and it has been shown that the ear's sensitivity is best at frequencies between 1 kHz and 5 kHz.

Read more about Absolute Threshold Of Hearing:  Psychophysical Methods For Measuring Thresholds, Hysteresis Effect, Psychometric Function of Absolute Hearing Threshold, Minimal Audible Field (MAF) Vs Minimal Audible Pressure (MAP), Temporal Summation, Frequency Variation

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