Recruitment (medicine)

Recruitment, in medicine, is a physical condition of the inner ear that leads to reduced tolerance of loudness. It commonly occurs in individuals who suffer hearing loss due to cochlear damage. While low-magnitude sounds cannot be heard in the affected ear(s), the perceived loudness increases over-proportionally with sound volume once the auditory threshold has been overcome. This can result in a (seemingly paradoxical) reduced tolerance to loudness, as loud sounds may be perceived louder than normal.

In those with hearing impairment, the presence of a recruitment phenomenon points towards a cochlear dysfunction, while its absence (also referred to as negative recruitment) indicates a source outside the cochlea (e.g. cochlear nerve injury, tympanic membrane rupture).^[1]

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