CLINICALLY, the otosclerotic often appears "deafer" than his pure-tone shortcoming. In bilateral otosclerosis, with a speech frequency loss of 40 db. in one ear and 30 db. in the other, poor intelligibility of average conversation is frequently the complaint. On the other hand, the otosclerotic usually obtains a greater degree of normalcy in hearing from adequate amplification than a person who is deafened from a different cause.
In the laboratory, Ersner and Saltzman1 observed a distinctive pattern of response to word-hearing tests in uncomplicated otosclerosis. At moderate intensities, the score was poorer for words of the low frequency range predominating in nasal and liquid consonants and vowels than for words of high frequency emphasis containing sibilant and dental consonants. Word hearing was compared in persons with an air-conduction threshold of 40 to 50 db. who were deafened from various causes. Invariably, word intelligibility, at the average conversational level, was