Otoacoustic emissions in a hearing conservation program: general applicability in longitudinal monitoring and the relation to changes in pure-tone thresholds.
The hearing status of workers (N = 233) in a printing office was assessed twice within seventeen months by pure-tone audiometry and otoacoustic emissions (OAEs). One of the questions was how a quality criterion of OAE-measurements based on a minimum signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) would affect the applicability on the entire population. Secondly, effects of noise exposure were investigated in overall changes in audiogram and OAE-measurements. For TEOAEs (transient evoked OAEs) in the frequency band of 4 kHz, only 55% of the data points meet the SNR-inclusion criterion. For DPOAEs (distortion product OAEs) around 6 kHz approximately 80% of the data points satisfy the criterion. Thus OAEs have a limited applicability for monitoring the hearing status of this entire population. Audiometry shows significant deteriorations at 6 and 8 kHz. TEOAEs show a significant decline at all frequency bands (1-4 kHz), DPOAEs between 4 and 8 kHz and less pronounced between 1 and 2 kHz. On group level, OAEs show a decline in a larger frequency region than the audiogram, suggesting an increased sensitivity of OAEs compared to audiometry.
Helleman
Hiske W
HW
Clinical and Experimental Audiology, ENT Department, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. h.w.helleman@amc.uva.nl
Jansen
Eleonora J M
EJ
Dreschler
Wouter A
WA
D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology*; D011304:Presbycusis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011327:Printing; D012015:Reference Standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult