Abstract
Stimulus frequency otoacoustic emission (SFOAE) is an active acoustic signal emitted by the inner ear providing salient information about cochlear function and dysfunction. To provide a basis for laboratory investigation and clinical use, we investigated the characteristics of SFOAEs, including detection rate, musical training influence, and gain function. Sixty-five normal hearing subjects (15 musicians and 50 non-musicians, aged 16–45 years) were tested and analyzed at the probe level of 30 and 50 dB sound pressure levels (SPL) in the center frequency of 1 and 4 kHz in the study. The results indicate that (1) the detection rates of SFOAE are sensitive to the gender, (2) musicians reveal enhanced hearing capacity and SFOAE amplitudes compared with non-musicians, and (3) probe frequency has a significant effect on the compression threshold of SFOAE. Our findings highlight the importance of SFOAE in the clinical hearing screening and diagnosis and emphasize the use of musical training for the rehabilitation enhancement of the auditory periphery and hearing threshold.
Highlights
Since the discovery of otoacoustic emission (OAE) in 1978 [1], several studies have attempted to demonstrate OAE as a promising non-invasive tool for assessment of cochlear functional status [2,3].the applicability of stimulus-frequency (SF) OAEs in laboratory investigation and clinical use is still unclear
We investigated the characteristics of stimulus frequency otoacoustic emission (SFOAE), including the detection rate, the musical training influence, and the gain function, in order to provide a basis for laboratory investigation and clinical use
By detecting and analyzing the pure tone audiometry (PTA) and the SFOAE amplitude in 65 normal hearing subjects (15 musicians and 50 non-musicians) at the probe levels of 30 and 50 dB sound pressure levels (SPL) in the center frequency of 1 and 4 kHz, we explored and predicted (1) the detection rate of SFOAE under the conditions of different genders, probe levels, and probe frequencies; (2) that musical training may enhance the hearing threshold and SFOAE amplitude; and (3) that it is possible that the gain function of SFOAE is sensitive to the stimulus frequency
Summary
Since the discovery of otoacoustic emission (OAE) in 1978 [1], several studies have attempted to demonstrate OAE as a promising non-invasive tool for assessment of cochlear functional status [2,3].the applicability of stimulus-frequency (SF) OAEs in laboratory investigation and clinical use (e.g., the detection rate and gain function under different conditions) is still unclear. Showed an experience-dependent enhancement in the peripheral frequency resolution for musicians [4] It needs to be further investigated whether the peripheral threshold (indicated by SFOAE amplitude) improved musical training. To explore the above questions, we investigated detection rate, musical training influence, and gain function of SFOAEs. OAE is a kind of weak acoustic signal non-invasively recorded in the external auditory canal by a tiny microphone. OAE is a kind of weak acoustic signal non-invasively recorded in the external auditory canal by a tiny microphone It is produced from the cochlea and transmitted via the ossicles chain and the tympanic membrane [5]. SFOAE is an active acoustic signal emitted by the inner ear with the same frequency as
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