What is the implication of undermasking during a hearing test?

The implication of undermasking during a hearing test is that the non-test ear responds to both the masking noise and the test signal. This situation occurs when the level of masking noise presented to the non-test ear is insufficient to completely obscure the test signal, allowing the non-test ear to still pick up auditory information from the test stimulus. As a result, this can lead to inaccurate assessment of the hearing thresholds in the test ear.

When undermasking occurs, what you're essentially facing is the potential for the results of the hearing test to reflect not just the hearing capability of the test ear but also contributions from the non-test ear, leading to invalid or compromised results. Proper masking ensures that only the relevant ear is responding to the test stimuli, allowing for accurate evaluation of hearing ability.