What is the primary use of pure tone testing in audiometry?

The primary use of pure tone testing in audiometry is to determine the threshold of hearing. This process involves using pure tones at various frequencies and intensities to ascertain the softest sounds a person can hear. By identifying these thresholds, audiologists can create an audiogram, which visually represents a person's hearing ability across different frequencies. This is essential for diagnosing different types of hearing loss, as it helps professionals determine the degree and nature of the hearing impairment.

In the context of other choices, while assessing pain levels, measuring balance, and evaluating speech recognition are important aspects of audiological assessments, they are not the focus of pure tone testing. Pain assessment typically involves different methodologies that are not related to pure tone audiometry. Balance, often evaluated through vestibular testing, and speech recognition tasks, which assess a person’s ability to understand spoken language, require different types of testing beyond pure tone thresholds. Thus, knowing the threshold of hearing is foundational in audiometry, guiding further evaluation and intervention strategies.