Keyboard shortcuts — Theta Docs

Theta's consoles can be driven entirely from the keyboard. The audiometer's shortcuts deliberately model a PC-based clinical audiometer (the Astera layout Theta 3 used), so the muscle memory you build here carries over to real equipment.

The one rule to remember

At the audiometer, hold Shift to apply a shortcut to Channel 2 (the masker) instead of Channel 1 — including Shift + ↑ / ↓ for the masker level. The speech console uses Shift + ↑ / ↓ for its masking level too, but not for the ear keys (set Channel 2's ear there with the on-screen buttons); the acoustic-reflex console doesn't read Shift.

Shortcuts are ignored while you're typing in a text box, number field, or dropdown, so you can never knock a threshold out of place while filling in a form.

You don't need to memorize them: the audiometer, Speech in Quiet, acoustic reflex and ABR consoles each list their main shortcuts at the foot of their View settings (gear) menu, with a link back to this page. The list is left off on phones, where there's rarely a keyboard.

The audiometer

Used wherever the audiometer console itself opens: in a submission, and in any Try in simulator run — from the designer or from the Element Explorer. (An explorer's own page is the element editor, so the shortcuts start once you launch the simulator.)

Presenting and saving

Key	What it does
Space (hold)	Present the Channel 1 stimulus for as long as you hold it
Enter	Save the threshold at the current frequency, ear, and transducer
Delete	Clear the saved point at the current frequency, ear, and transducer
N	Save the current point as No Response
V	Save the current point as Vibrotactile
D	Save the current point as a Masking Dilemma

Enter saves whatever the console's current save mode records — a threshold, an MCL or a UCL. N, V and D apply to threshold mode only: in MCL or UCL mode they save an ordinary value and the flag is dropped, so use threshold mode when you mean "no response".

Levels and frequency

Key	What it does
↑ / ↓	Channel 1 level, in 5 dB steps
Shift + ↑ / Shift + ↓, or Page Up / Page Down	Channel 2 (masker) level, in 5 dB steps — Shift + arrows for keyboards without Page keys (Mac laptops, many Chromebooks)
← / →	Previous / next test frequency

Levels stop at −10 dB HL and at each channel's ceiling. Frequency steps only through the frequencies the lesson actually tests.

If the arrows feel backwards

By default ↑ raises the level — which moves down the audiogram. Tick Invert up/down dB in the console's settings menu (under My preferences) and ↑, Shift + ↑ and Page Up move up on the audiogram instead. A lesson's design can set the starting direction, but once you tick or untick the box your choice wins and follows your account onto every case.

Ear, transducer, and masking

Plain key = Channel 1. Shift + key = Channel 2. Choosing an ear for Channel 1 automatically puts Channel 2 on the opposite ear.

Key	What it does
R	Test ear → Right
L	Test ear → Left
E	Toggle the test ear
A	Transducer → air conduction (supra-aural headphones)
B	Transducer → bone conduction
T	Toggle between air and bone. Air always returns to supra-aural, so from inserts or circumaural, pick that transducer again with 7/8
M	Toggle masking (Channel 2) on / off

Number keys

1–5 choose a stimulus, 6–9 choose a transducer. Again, Shift applies them to Channel 2.

Key	Stimulus
1	Pure tone
2	Pulsed tone
3	Warble tone
4	Pulsed warble tone
5	Narrowband noise

Key	Transducer
6	Supra-aural headphones (TDH-50)
7	Insert earphones (ER-3A)
8	Circumaural headphones (HDA200)
9	Bone oscillator (B81)

Speech in Quiet

The speech console mirrors the audiometer where the controls are the same, and adds two keys for scoring word recognition.

Key	What it does
Space	Present the word or speech stimulus
Enter	The context action — score the word and advance (WRS), or save the threshold (SRT)
↑ / ↓	Speech level, in 5 dB steps
Shift + ↑ / Shift + ↓, or Page Up / Page Down	Masking level, in 5 dB steps
M	Toggle masking on / off
R / L / E	Right ear / left ear / toggle ear
C, = or +	Mark the current word correct
I or −	Mark the current word incorrect

The correct / incorrect keys do nothing outside a word-recognition run, and Enter does nothing on the Sound Sensitivity tab — SAT, MCL and UCL are saved with that panel's own buttons.

Speech in Noise

Used by the FastSIN, WIN and THETA-Bio tests.

Key	What it does
Enter	Present the next item (the same as Start / Next)
C, = or +	WIN only: mark the current word correct and go to the next word
I or −	WIN only: mark the current word incorrect and go to the next word

The correct / incorrect keys do nothing on FastSIN or THETA-Bio — mark those tests' key words on the sheet.

Acoustic reflexes

Key	What it does
Space	Run the current condition
Enter	Save the reflex threshold at the current level — once the condition has been run, and only where a threshold is collected
↑ / ↓	Level, in 5 dB steps
← / →	Previous / next frequency
E	Toggle the test ear (skipped if that ear isn't tested)

Classifying a reflex stays a deliberate mouse or tap choice — there's no shortcut for it. On a condition that only asks for a classification, Enter does nothing: use the Choose classification dropdown.

Auditory brainstem response

The ABR console follows the same layout as the audiometer and the reflex console: Space records, ↑ / ↓ set the level, Enter saves the threshold.

Key	What it does
Space	Acquire a trace at the current settings — or Stop one that is still collecting
Enter	Save the Wave V threshold at the current level, for the ear and stimulus on the console — once a trace has been recorded at that level, and only where the report asks for a threshold
↑ / ↓	Level, in the lesson's level steps
1–5	The wave to place — 1 = I, 2 = II, 3 = III, 4 = IV, 5 = V (2 and 4 only when the case lets learners mark II and IV)
← / →	Previous / next wave to place
R / L / E	Right ear / left ear / switch ear (skipped if that ear isn't tested)

Marking starts on Wave V and stays on whichever wave you pick — placing a wave never moves you on to the next one. A latency box in the Wave latencies table uses ↑ / ↓ itself (nudging the latency by 0.05 ms, or 0.25 ms with Shift) while you're typing in it; press Enter, or click anything else — including a console button — to hand the keys back to the console.

Attempt replay

Instructors reviewing an attempt can step through it from the keyboard.

Key	What it does
→ / ←	Next / previous step
Space	Play / pause
Home / End	Jump to the first / last step
[ / ]	Previous / next chapter

On phones and tablets

Every one of these shortcuts still works if a hardware keyboard is attached. Without one, each shortcut has a matching on-screen control — nothing in Theta is keyboard-only.

Audiometry — the full audiometer, design to report
Speech in Quiet — SRT, WRS, and speech masking
Speech in Noise — FastSIN, WIN and THETA-Bio
Acoustic Reflexes — the reflex grid
Auditory Brainstem Response — waveforms, wave marking and the report
Running each element — what you do in each test