Distortion product oto-acoustic emissions as objective audiometry in a group of children with ventilation tubes.
The aim of this study was to evaluate distortion product oto-acoustic emissions (DPOAEs) as a means of objective audiometry in a population of children with ventilation tubes. We measured DPOAEs at two different stimulus levels--recorded transient evoked oto-acoustic emissions (TEOAEs) and obtained pure-tone audiometry (PTA). DPOAEs were compared with the normal range proposed by the Madsen company: the CELESTA 503 provides a 'normalized' distortion-product-gram which we compared with the pure-tone threshold of the test group. DPOAEs at 60 dBSPL were more easily obtained in the test group than TEOAEs and PTA. Correlation between 'normalized' DPOAEs and pure-tone thresholds was the strongest at 2 and 4 kHz. Surprisingly, DPOAEs at 60 dBSPL showed significant differences also at 2 and 4 kHz compared with the Madsen data. DPOAEs at 60 dBSPL might be an easy, objective test for evaluating auditory function and for determining hearing threshold at 2 and 4 kHz.
Gordts
F
F
Department of Biostatistics, Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
Naessens
B
B
Meyvisch
P
P
Clement
P A
PA
D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D000293:Adolescent; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000379:methods*; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology*; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008876:Middle Ear Ventilation; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology*