Transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions in a representative population sample aged 18 to 25 years

Transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) were obtained from 688 ears of a group of 345 young adults aged 18 to 25 years, using the Otodynamics ILO88 in the standard, non-linear mode. Normative data for TEOAEs obtained from 186 otologically normal (ON) ears are presented. In 5 ON ears, there was no recordable response, despite hearing threshold levels better than 20 dB. The main factors affecting the TEOAE level were (1) gender, where females had larger responses on average than males; (2) tympanometric measures, where ears with entirely normal tympanometric measures had larger responses than those with minor tympanometric abnormalities; (3) click stimulus intensity measured in the ear canal, which correlated positively with TEOAE level; and (4) hearing threshold level at 0.5 kHz, which correlated negatively with amplitude. There was also a small effect of social noise exposure in the 2-kHz region of the TEOAE, where the response was lower in those subjects exposed to significant social noise.