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DPOAE-grams in patients with acute tonal tinnitus
Haralampos Gouveris1, Jan Maurer, Wolf Mann
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Mainz Medical School, Mainz, Germany. gouveris@hno.klinik.uni-mainz.de
Objective:
To investigate cochlear outer hair cell function in patients with acute tonal tinnitus and normal or near-normal hearing threshold.
Study Design And Setting:
Prospective controlled study in an academic tertiary health center. Distortion products of otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE)-grams of 32 ears with acute tonal tinnitus and normal hearing or minimal hearing loss were compared with those of 17 healthy nontinnitus ears.
Results:
Tinnitus ears exhibited relatively increased amplitudes of DPOAE at high frequencies (4-6.3 kHz) when compared with the group of healthy ears and relatively decreased DPOAE amplitudes at middle frequencies (1650-2400 Hz). Statistically significant ( P < 0.01) increased mean values of DPOAE amplitudes were observed only at a frequency of f2 equal to 4.9 kHz.
Conclusions And Significance:
These findings suggest an altered functional state of the outer hair cells at a selected high-frequency region of the cochlea in ears with acute tonal tinnitus and normal or near-normal hearing threshold.
