Input-output Functions of the Nonlinear-distortion Component of Distortion-product Otoacoustic Emissions in Normal and Hearing-impaired Human Ears

Overview

Journal J Acoust Soc Am

Publisher American Institute of Physics

Specialty Otorhinolaryngology

Date 2017 Jun 11

PMID 28599560

Citations 9

Authors

Dennis Zelle

Lisa Lorenz

John P Thiericke

Anthony W Gummer

Ernst Dalhoff

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) arise in the cochlea in response to two tones with frequencies f and f and mainly consist of two components, a nonlinear-distortion and a coherent-reflection component. Wave interference between these components limits the accuracy of DPOAEs when evaluating the function of the cochlea with conventional continuous stimulus tones. Here, DPOAE components are separated in the time domain from DPOAE signals elicited with short stimulus pulses. The extracted nonlinear-distortion components are used to derive estimated distortion-product thresholds (EDPTs) from semi-logarithmic input-output (I/O) functions for 20 normal-hearing and 21 hearing-impaired subjects. I/O functions were measured with frequency-specific stimulus levels at eight frequencies f = 1,…, 8 kHz (f/f = 1.2). For comparison, DPOAEs were also elicited with continuous primary tones. Both acquisition paradigms yielded EDPTs, which significantly correlated with behavioral thresholds (p < 0.001) and enabled derivation of estimated hearing thresholds (EHTs) from EDPTs using a linear regression relationship. DPOAE-component separation in the time domain significantly reduced the standard deviation of EHTs compared to that derived from continuous DPOAEs (p < 0.01). In conclusion, using frequency-specific stimulus levels and DPOAE-component separation increases the reliability of DPOAE I/O functions for assessing cochlear function and estimating behavioral thresholds.

Citing Articles

Sources of Microstructure in Mammalian Cochlear Responses.

Dewey J J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2025; 26(1):1-15.

PMID: 39881102 PMC: 11861815. DOI: 10.1007/s10162-025-00974-5.

The Ins and Outs of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission Growth: A Review.

Glavin C, Dhar S J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2024; 26(1):17-32.

PMID: 39592507 PMC: 11861785. DOI: 10.1007/s10162-024-00969-8.

Detection of mild sensory hearing loss using a joint reflection-distortion otoacoustic emission profile.

Abdala C, Benjamin T, Stiepan S, Luo P, Shera C J Acoust Soc Am. 2024; 156(4):2220-2236.

PMID: 39377529 PMC: 11464069. DOI: 10.1121/10.0030399.

Pulsed DPOAEs in serial measurements : Combined analysis paradigm of simultaneously occurring changes in hearing thresholds and DPOAEs.

Bader K, Zelle D, Gummer A, Dalhoff E HNO. 2024; 72(Suppl 2):101-110.

PMID: 38958758 PMC: 11618175. DOI: 10.1007/s00106-024-01478-z.

[Pulsed DPOAEs in serial measurements : Combined analysis paradigm of simultaneously occurring changes in hearing thresholds and DPOAEs. German version].

Bader K, Zelle D, Gummer A, Dalhoff E HNO. 2024; 72(9):639-648.

PMID: 38801424 PMC: 11339121. DOI: 10.1007/s00106-024-01477-0.

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