The liminal auditory threshold for white noise and for coloured noise was determined from a statistical survey of a group of 21 young people with normal hearing. The normal auditory threshold for white noise with a spectrum covering the whole of the auditory field is between -- 0.57 dB +/- 8.78. The normal auditory threshold for bands of filtered white noise (coloured noise with a central frequency corresponding to the pure frequencies usually employed in tonal audiometry) describes a typical curve which, instead of being homothetic to the usual tonal curves, sinks to low frequencies and then rises. The peak of this curve is replaced by a broad plateau ranging from 750 to 6000 Hz and contained in the concavity of the liminal tonal curves. The ear is therefore less sensitive but, at limited acoustic pressure, white noise first impinges with the same discrimination upon the whole of the conversational zone of the auditory field. Discovery of the audiometric threshold for white noise constitutes a synthetic method of measuring acuteness of hearing which considerably reduces the amount of manipulation required.