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.
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
Agnès
A
Job
Jean-Bertrand
JB
Nottet
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