Relationship between evoked otoacoustic emissions and middle-ear dynamic characteristics

Audiology. 1993 Sep-Oct;32(5):282-92. doi: 10.3109/00206099309072944.

Abstract

Evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOAEs) are considered to originate from outer hair cell movement and to be transmitted to the external auditory meatus through the ossicular chain and eardrum in a retrograde fashion. Therefore, the effect of the middle ear on EOAEs seems to be large. A sweep frequency middle-ear analyzer (MEA) has been developed that gives much more information on middle-ear dynamic characteristics than a conventional impedance meter. In this paper, applying our own EOAE measuring system and the MEA, EOAEs and middle-ear dynamic characteristics of normal subjects were measured, and an attempt was made to clarify the relationship between EOAEs and middle-ear dynamic characteristics. It is concluded that EOAEs are detected most distinctly at the middle-ear resonance frequency and that EOAEs are most detectable in normal subjects whose middle-ear mobility is moderate.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation
  • Adult
  • Amplifiers, Electronic
  • Audiometry
  • Auditory Perception
  • Auditory Threshold
  • Cochlea / physiology*
  • Ear Ossicles / physiology
  • Ear, Middle / physiology*
  • Female
  • Hair Cells, Auditory / physiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Tympanic Membrane / physiology