A series of auditory localization experiments has been performed with S's listening in a sound field. However, audiometric screening was done with headphones, implying a known relation between these two conditions. There is little in the literature concerning precise relationships between threshold measurements taken with headphones and suprathreshold tasks performed in a sound field. Using Békésy audiometry, we tested 10 college students listening both with headphones and with loud‐speakers in a partially balanced experimental design. Statistical analysis of the findings demonstrated significant differences between results produced under the two test conditions with respect both to threshold and to variances.