Ear-canal acoustic admittance and reflectance measurements in human neonates. II. Predictions of middle-ear in dysfunction and sensorineural hearing loss.
This report describes relationships between middle-ear measurements of acoustic admittance and energy reflectance (YR) and measurements of hearing status using visual reinforcement audiometry in a neonatal hearing-screening population. Analyses were performed on 2638 ears in which combined measurements were obtained [Norton et al., Ear Hear. 21, 348-356 (2000)]. The measurements included distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE), transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE), and auditory brainstem responses (ABR). Models to predict hearing status using DPOAEs, TEOAEs, or ABRs were each improved by the addition of the YR factors as interactions, in which factors were calculated using factor loadings from Keefe et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 113, 389-406 (2003)]. This result suggests that information on middle-ear status improves the ability to predict hearing status. The YR factors were used to construct a middle-ear dysfunction test on 1027 normal-hearing ears in which DPOAE and TEOAE responses were either both present or both absent, the latter condition being viewed as indicative of middle-ear dysfunction. The middle-ear dysfunction test classified these ears with a nonparametric area (A) under the relative operating characteristic curve of A = 0.86, and classified normal-hearing ears that failed two-stage hearing-screening tests with areas A = 0.84 for DPOAE/ABR, and A = 0.81 for TEOAE/ABR tests. The middle-ear dysfunction test adequately generalized to a new sample population (A = 0.82).
Keefe
Douglas H
DH
Boys Town National Research Hospital, 555 North 30th Street, Omaha, Nebaska 68131, USA. keefe@boystown.org
Gorga
Michael P
MP
Neely
Stephen T
ST
Zhao
Fei
F
Vohr
Betty R
BR
D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004424:Ear Canal / Q000503:physiopathology; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012306:Risk