[Remote masking as a test of cochlear conductive hearing losses (author's transl)].

The authors studied the remote masking (RM) in patients with Menière's disorder during the hearing loss fluctuations produced either by the disorder or by the glycerol test (Klockhoff). The RM was recorded for pulsed tones of 250, 500 and 1 000 Hz; the masker was a continuous narrow-band noise centered at 3 000 Hz, with 305 Hz (2 875-3 180 Hz) bandwidth, delivered at an overall level of 98 dB SPL. The results showed that the RM decreases during the acute phase, i.e. when the hearing loss increases, and, increases if the glycerol tests do not significantly modify the RM value. They seem to confirm the hypothesis that the RM may be due to a mechanical effect in the internal ear and suggest the possibility of using the RM as a test of end-organ rigidity.