Test-retest variability of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions in human ears with normal hearing

Abstract

In the present study, the test-retest variability of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) due to various causes has been assessed quantitatively at individual frequencies using the ILO88/92 system. The short-term variance was generally lower than 3 dB2. Changing the position and the fit of the probe may affect the level of background noise in the ear canal, which interferes with the responses of the DPOAEs mainly at low frequencies and can also influence the interaction of the resonances of the outer ear and acoustic stimuli. The long-term variance was significantly greater than short-term variance, but did not differ significantly from variance of refitting the probe. The total DPOAE variance was small across all the frequencies above 1000 Hz except for a small peak in the 2500 Hz range. This may be related to the low response amplitudes in this region. The limitation of DPOAE detection at frequencies below 1000 Hz must lead to caution in the interpretation of results in this frequency range. The magnitude of the total variance was similar to that found in audiometric studies.

Hearing loss in Turner syndrome

“…A plausible reason for this discrepancy is the difference in the definition of the dip pattern: Hultcrantz et al define it as a characteristic elevation of the threshold exceeding 5 dB in the middle frequencies (0.5 to 2 kHz), whereas we defined it as that exceeding 15 dB, because many researchers adopt the latter criteria. 19,20 If we apply the former definition, the hearing loss with the dip pattern is to be seen in 9 cases (14 ears). We believe that such a small elevation (Ͼ5 dB) cannot be considered a significant change because a standard deviation of test-retest differences in pure-tone audiometry ranges from 5 to 10 dB even in normal subjects.…”

Stimulus frequency otoacoustic emissions evoked by swept tones

“…Without good reliability, any changes in the swept-tone SFOAEs cannot be considered as evidences of cochlear functional changes instead of measurement errors (Franklin et al, 1992;Zhao and Stephens, 1999). Many studies have been conducted to investigate the reliability of the DPOAEs (Parazzini et al, 2006a,b;Valero and Ratnam, 2011;Wagner et al, 2008;Zhao and Stephens, 1999) and TEOAEs (Franklin et al, 1992;Keppler et al, 2010;Marshall and Heller, 1996), but the reliability of SFOAEs was rarely explored. In this study, the reliability of swept-tone SFOAEs was assessed under various stimulus conditions in 10 subjects with normal hearings.…”

Test-retest reliability of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions in children with normal hearing: A preliminary study

“…Several studies investigating DPOAE level in repeated measurements have reported excellent within-subject reliability (Franklin et al, 1992;Cacace et al, 1996;Roede et al, 1993;Zhao & Stephens, 1999). Franklin et al (1992) showed high reliability of DPOAE level between 1000 and 8000 Hz over four consecutive weeks and four consecutive days in an adult population.…”