Interrelations between transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions, spontaneous otoacoustic emissions and acoustic distortion products in normally hearing subjects

Abstract

Active cochlear mechanisms and especially outer hair cells seem to be involved in oto-acoustic emissions (OAEs) genesis. This study sought to investigate basic characteristics of spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs), click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TOAEs) and interrelations between SOAEs, TOAEs and 2 f 1 − f 2 and 2 f 2 − f 1 distortion product OAEs (DPOAEs) in 135 normally hearing subjects. A gender effect was shown on TOAEs and DPOAEs amplitude, and is attributed to the higher incidence of SOAEs in women (58%) than in men (22%). Moreover, SOAEs presence seems to mask the age effect found, especially at high frequency components, on TOAEs amplitude. A general influence of SOAEs on TOAEs and DPOAEs is shown, especially at frequencies ranging from 1 kHz to 3 kHz, collecting more than 66% of the SOAEs peaks recorded. Lastly, correlations between TOAEs frequency band amplitude and 2 f 1 − f 2 DPOAEs amplitude, shows frequency specificity, at least at low frequencies (i.e., from 0.5 to 2 kHz) in agreement with previous works suggesting that the 2 f 1 − f 2 DPOAEs generation site is at the geometric mean of the primaries. The same correlations calculated with 2 f 2 − f 1 DPOAEs amplitude show frequency specificity at low frequencies i.e., at 800 Hz and 1600 Hz. 2 f 2 − f 1 DPOAEs in humans are shown to be generated near the 2 f 2 − f 1 frequency region on the cochlear partition.