Acceptable Noise Level in Danish Adult Subjects Diagnosed with Unilateral Ménière's Disease

Objective: The acceptable noise level (ANL) test is used for quantification of the amount of background noise that subjects are willing to accept when listening to speech. Earlier studies including subjects with normal hearing and/or mixed types of sensorineural hearing losses have shown that ANL is not affected by hearing sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to investigate possible within-subject ANL differences between ears in subjects with unilateral Meniere's disease. Study design: ANL was measured in three conditions in both ears of 11 Danish adult subjects diagnosed with unilateral Meniere's disease. Both speech and noise signals were presented through earphones. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was utilized to determine if there were significant differences between ANLs measured in the unaffected and the ears affected by Meniere's disease. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was calculated to determine if an association exists between the speech discrimination score and ANL in the affected ear. Results: Similar mean ANL results were found in the subjects 'unaffected and affected ear. No association between speech discrimination and the ANL on the affected ear was found. Conclusion: The present study showed no within-subject ANL differences owing to differences in hearing sensitivity or loudness growth patterns.