Objective: To implement a fast method for measuring psychophysical tuning curves (PTCs) for use in clinical applications, such as assessment of frequency selectivity and detection of dead regions in the cochlea.
Design: The method is based on that described by Sek et al (2005) and has been implemented in software that can be run on a PC with a good-quality sound card. In addition to the main narrowband noise masker, a lowpass noise masker can be generated to prevent detection of a distortion band corresponding to the simple difference tone.
Results: The software includes a routine for measuring the absolute threshold at the signal frequency and includes methods for estimating the frequency at the tip of the PTC. A PTC can typically be determined in about three minutes. A small amount of practice (two to three runs) may be required to achieve stable results.
Conclusions: The software implementation allows PTCs to be measured quickly without a requirement for specialised equipment.