In Brief:
This study provides the first national representative values for mean and median hearing thresholds among U.S. children 6–19 years of age. Hearing thresholds were obtained from 6,166 children in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988–1994), a national, population-based, crosssectional survey with household interview and audiometric testing at 0.5–8 kHz. Means, medians, and standard errors of the mean were obtained and reported by ear, frequency, sex, and age. These data indicate that the mean thresholds fall below the standard screening guidelines recommended by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. The results of this study suggest the need to include the test frequency of 6000 Hz in screening protocols for children.