Contralateral suppression of transient otoacoustic emissions and sentence recognition in noise in young adults.
BACKGROUND
One purported role of the medial olivocochlear (MOC) efferent system is to reduce the effects of masking noise. MOC system functioning can be evaluated noninvasively in humans through contralateral suppression of otoacoustic emissions. It has been suggested that the strength of the MOC efferent activity should be positively associated with listening performance in noise.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to further explore this notion by examining contralateral suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) and sentence recognition in two noises with normal hearing young adults.


METHODS
A repeated measures multivariate quasi-experimental design was employed.


METHODS
Thirty-two normal hearing young adult females participated.


METHODS
Reception thresholds for sentences (RTSs) were determined monaurally and binaurally in quiet and in competing continuous and interrupted noises. Both noises had an identical power spectrum and differed only in their temporal continuity. "Release from masking" was computed by subtracting RTS signal-to-noise ratios in interrupted from continuous noise. TEOAEs were evoked with 80 dB peSPL click stimuli. To examine contralateral suppression, TEOAEs were evaluated with 60 dB peSPL click stimuli with and without a contralateral 65 dB SPL white noise suppressor.


RESULTS
A binaural advantage was observed for RTSs in quiet and noise (p < .0001) while there was no difference between ears (p >.05). In noise, performance was superior in the interrupted noise (i.e., RTSs were lower vs. continuous noise; p < .0001). There were no statistically significant differences in TEOAE levels between ears (p >.05). There was also no significant difference in the amount of suppression between ears (p = .41). There were no significant correlations or predictive linear relations between the amount of TEOAE suppression and any indices of sentence recognition in noise (i.e., RTS signal-to-noise ratios and release from masking; p > .05).


CONCLUSIONS
The findings are not consistent with the notion that increased medial olivocochlear efferent feedback, as assessed via contralateral suppression of TEOAEs, is associated with improved speech perception in continuous and interrupted noise.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA. stuarta@ecu.edu
Andrew
A
Stuart
Alyson K
AK
Butler
D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D009622:Noise; D009847:Olivary Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult