Many physicians, including otologists, are of the opinion that audiometric tests, repeated at various time intervals, constitute a reliable basis on which to detect or reject malingering, for it would be extremely difficult for an ordinary person to repeat a pure-tone threshold were he, or she, to feign partial deafness. According to Reger,* it is conceivable that a musician whose ears are attuned to fine modulations of sound, or a specialist in the physics of sound, might successfully simulate a partial loss of hearing, but it is improbable that the average person could achieve such a simulation.
In order to ascertain the correctness of this viewpoint the study reported here was made with the assistance of two groups, namely:
1. A selected, highly cooperative, voluntary group of 50 graduate and student nurses, 18 to 25 years old, attached to the Queen of Angels' Clinic. All were given a preliminary hearing