DPOAEs in young normal-hearing subjects with histories of otitis media: evidence of sub-clinical impairments.
To investigate the origin of the susceptibility to noise in subjects with histories of otitis media (OM), we assessed early sub-clinical impairments in normally hearing subjects with a history of OM using distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs). DPOAEs of 213 normal-hearing subjects aged 18-24 years were obtained and comparisons of DPOAE levels in several groups as a function of OM past infections were tested by ANOVA. A main finding was that young normal-hearing subjects with a history of OM had significantly lower DPOAEs over all octaves tested compared to normal-hearing subjects without antecedent of OM. The mean difference was 3.5+/-1.1 dB in the 2-4 kHz zone, which was especially marked in subjects (n=21) that had undergone a myringotomy (6.6+/-1.5 dB) in the 4 kHz zone. The level of impairment seemed to depend on the severity of the past infection as characterised by the importance and the duration of the infectious effusions.
Job
Agnès
A
Centre de Recherches du Service de Santé des Armées, 24 Avenue des maquis du Grésivaudan, P.O. Box 87, 38702 La Tronche Cedex, France. agnes_job@compuserve.com
Nottet
Jean-Bertrand
JB
D000293:Adolescent; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D012307:Risk Factors