Relation between Body Structure and Hearing during Soft Tissue Auditory Stimulation

Figure 1

(a) shows the relation between BMI and the lowest vertebra (vertebrate level defined at bottom of figure) at which auditory sensation was elicited in response to 2.0 kHz tones at 60 dB SL in 10 normal male subjects. It can be seen that the lowest vertebra eliciting hearing sensation ranged from T3 to L4. The point on the graph at BMI 22/T10 represents two points with identical values. The Spearman rank order correlation coefficient for this relation was . (b) shows the relation between percent of body fat and the lowest vertebra () in males. In all of these experiments, the subjects were equipped with ear plugs to reduce hearing by AC.

(a)

(b)