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We thank Dr. Zachman for bringing up an interesting point in our article on "Conductive High-tone Hearing Loss." Regarding the masking procedure, we follow the rules set up by one of us (Acta, Otolaryng, Stockholm 50:116-136, 1958)—a technique that for many years has been extensively used in this country. In accordance with our rules masking should not be applied when testing the best bone-conduction ear; here it is no risk that the patient will crosshear the bone-conducted sound to the opposite ear with a poorer bone-conduction sensitivity.
In the unilaterally impaired cases described in our study, the affected ears without exception recorded the lowest ("best") bone-conduction threshold (cf, Weber test). Consequently, the bone-conduction thresholds reported in our study are all obtained without masking; but we nevertheless regard them as giving true pictures of the cochlear capacity of the affected ears.