Abstract
Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) offer an outcome measure to consider for clinical detection and monitoring outer hair cell dysfunction as a result of noise exposure. This investigation detailed DPOAE characteristics and behavioral hearing thresholds up to 20 kHz to identify promising metrics for early detection of cochlear dysfunction. In a sample of normal-hearing individuals with and without self-reported noise exposure, the DPOAE and hearing threshold measures, as assessed by two questions, were examined. The effects on various auditory measures in individuals aged 10-65 years old with clinically normal/near-normal hearing through 4 kHz were evaluated. Individuals reporting occupational noise exposures (n = 84) and recreational noise exposures (n = 46) were compared to age-matched nonexposed individuals. The hearing thresholds and DPOAE level, fine structure, and component characteristics for the full frequency bandwidth were examined. The data suggest that the DPOAE levels measured using a range of stimulus levels hold clinical utility while fine structure characteristics offer limited use. Under carefully calibrated conditions, the extension to frequencies beyond 8 kHz in combination with various stimulus levels holds clinical utility. Moreover, this work supports the potential utility of the distortion product place component level for revealing differences in cochlear function due to self-reported, casual noise exposure that are not observable in behavioral hearing thresholds.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2391-2402 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
| Volume | 151 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 1 2022 |
Funding
The authors wish to thank Rebekah Abel, Renee Banakis, Erica Choe, Helen Han, Lauren Hardies, Evan Grolley, Kelly Waldvogel, Coryn Weissinger, Darrin Worthington, and Wei Zhao for help in the data collection. Victoria Hellyer managed the research subject recruitment and participation. A special thanks to Jungmee Lee for her contributions. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) Grant Nos. R01DC008420 and T32DC009399, the American-Speech-Language Hearing Foundation, Northwestern University, and Mayo Clinic Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Acoustics and Ultrasonics