The increasing use of the electroaudiographic examination by nonmedical agencies, as well as by the medical profession, warrants a discussion of the actual value of the electroaudiogram in the diagnosis of hearing deficiencies. Knowledge of otologic as well as cardiac problems has been added to greatly by the results of the electrical methods in recording otologic and cardiac pathology. The diagnostic value of the electroaudiogram in many ways parallels that of the electrocardiogram.
Electroaudiography, undoubtedly the most revealing of the many mechanical aids in otology, provides a means of determining numerous changes in the neural elements and conduction system of the acoustic apparatus which other physical diagnostic measures cannot accurately detect.
The electric audiometer was originally devised about 1920 as the result of research work endeavoring to formulate a theory of telephone speech quality. In order to determine the degree of the excellence of speech when transmitted over an electrical