[The influence of aging on otoacoustic emissions in normally hearing subjects].
BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to measure age-related changes of otoacoustic emissions level in subjects with normal hearing in tonal audiometry.


METHODS
Click evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs) and distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) were recorded in 146 (n = 292 ears) subjects. Otoacoustic emissions were recorded in response to nonlinear clicks and two different primary tones (L1 = 65, L2 = 55 dB SPL; f2/f1 = 1.22) from 1 to 5 kHz. Subjects were divided into three age groups: young (19.8 +/- 4.6 years), middle-age (31.2 +/- 4.3 years) and old (48.2 +/- 5.9 years). All subjects had normal hearing and middle-ear function based upon standard audiometric criteria.


RESULTS
The principal findings were that CEOAEs and DPOAEs levels were smaller in the old group compared to the young and middle-aged groups, especially at the higher frequencies.


CONCLUSIONS
The influence of age on the level of otoacoustic emissions was found.
Katedra i Oddział Kliniczny Laryngologii w Zabrzu Sl.AM w Katowicach.
Grazyna
G
Lisowska
Grzegorz
G
Namysłowski
Bogusława
B
Orecka
Maciej
M
Misiołek
Wojciech
W
Scierski
Eugeniusz
E
Czecior
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology*