Probe-tube microphone measurements with very young infants.
The practicalities of performing probe-tube microphone measurements in a clinical environment with unsedated infants were examined. External ear resonance curves (unaided response) were obtained for both ears of a group of infants aged 0-6 months and an adult comparison group. A repeat measure (with probe-tube repositioning) was made to estimate the test-retest reliability of these measures. Results showed that the mean infant resonance frequency (4200 Hz) occurred at a significantly (P less than 0.005) higher frequency than the mean adult resonance frequency (2950 Hz). Infants test-retest differences for resonance frequency (mean = 286 Hz, s.d. = 404 Hz) and size of peak (mean = 2.2 dB, s.d. = 2.6 dB) showed acceptable stability for the measurements. Size of resonance peak was found to vary positively with ear canal volume; however, estimation of ear canal volume from tympanometry did not provide a useful indicator of the size of the peak. The probe-microphone measurements were found to be feasible, repeatable and practical with these infants.
Westwood
G F
GF
Centre for Audiology, Education of the Deaf and Speech Pathology, University of Manchester, UK.
Bamford
J M
JM
D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000669:Amplifiers, Electronic; D004424:Ear Canal / Q000502:physiology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects