The sound that approaches the ear is heard as if it is “cracked”.

It is characterized by an undesirable change in the input signal and the effect becomes more noticeable with increasing volume (Schum, 1993).

Although perceived by some of the professionals exposed to music and/or noise, auditory system distortion is hardly described in audiological/-otological reference books and only a few articles mention this as a symptom. In contrast, distortion is a topic that is fairly well covered in articles on hearing aid fitting or sound system fitting.

Broadly speaking, we could classify distortion(Pathological perception of hearing) of the hearing system into two broad categories:

(a) the distortion generated in the peripheral auditory system (either middle ear or cochlea); and
(b) the distortion generated in the central nervous system, which is beyond the scope of this website.