Abstract
Inner ear physiology has made rapid progress the last 10 years. New devices to facilitate measuring basilar membrane motion in living animals have been developed. It was suggested that the very sharp frequency selectivity of the basilar membrane was possibly due to a feedback force produced by outer hair cell motility. Since Kemp reported otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) in 1978, basic studies of the OAEs have continued. Findings obtained from electrical stimulation of the crossed olivocochlear bundle suggested that the OAEs related to basilar membrane motion are linked with the outer hair cell motility.It has been shown morphologically that sensory hairs become brittle to sounds with relatively low levels. The fine transduction system of the outer hair cells is one of the presumed factors of susceptibility. Our previous study revealed that evoked OAEs with prolonged duration (c-EOAEs) were more frequent in ears with dip type hearing loss than in ears without such a loss. The relationship between c-EOAEs and the dip type hearing loss was verified in practical studies of junior high school brass bands. The results suggested that the c-EOAEs might express the individual constitution of the inner ear susceptible to acoustic impairments. The measurement of OAEs will become a useful tool in predicting individual susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss.
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