Abstract: A method is described for and objective and frequency-specific determination of the audible threshold using an amplitude modulation following response (AMFR), for application in particular with infants and small children. According to the concept of the invention, instead of a single amplitude-modulated carrier, several carriers, preferably 3 or 5 carriers, having a frequency that is offset by a frequency difference &Dgr;F, preferably &Dgr;F=FMod or &Dgr;F=2 FMod, are used as a stimulus, wherein all carriers with the same modulation frequency FMod are modulated with an amplitude swing between 30% and 100%, preferably 100%. In addition, one or several of the amplitude-modulated carriers, which for an odd number of carriers are preferably the carriers located between the outermost carriers, can be frequency-modulated, wherein a frequency swing between 0% and 30%, preferably 20%, is selected.

Abstract: The invention discloses a process for the automatic determination of hearing of newborns and infants, by detecting the auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) or otacoustic emissions (OAEs), by testing in a frequency domain, by applying a predetermined initial acoustic stimulation level to a subject, pre-averaging a predetermined, sufficient, number of sweeps to yield a set of subaverages (SA), calculating a predetermined number, n, of frequency spectra based on the subaverages (SA), applying a q-sample uniform scores test or a q-sample Watson U.sup.2 test to determine phase and/or amplitude differences among the n frequency spectra. The number of frequency spectra, n, is determined by continuously averaging a predetermined number of initial sweeps to provide a predetermined number, m, of subaverages (SA), calculating m frequency spectra based on the m subaverages, and repeatedly applying the q-sample uniform scores test or the q-sample Watson U.sup.