Time frequency analysis for transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in different time windows

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Otoacoustic Emissions
• Hearing Diagnostics

Background:

• Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) are crucial for early hearing loss detection.
• Testing duration impacts both the speed and quality of TEOAE measurements.
• Optimizing TEOAE testing protocols is essential for efficient clinical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of reduced testing durations on TEOAE signal components.
• To determine the optimal time window for TEOAE analysis without significant data loss.
• To assess the impact of shorter TEOAE testing on frequency-specific information.

Main Methods:

• Dividing default 20ms TEOAE signals into 1.25ms sub-windows.
• Calculating and comparing cross-correlation coefficients across sub-windows.
• Performing time-frequency analysis using a cone-shaped kernel on TEOAEs processed with different time windows.

Main Results:

• High and middle frequency components of TEOAEs remained largely unaffected when the testing window was reduced to 12.5ms.
• Low frequency components showed partial impairment with the reduced 12.5ms testing window.
• Cross-correlation analysis revealed changes in signal characteristics with shorter time windows.

Conclusions:

• Reducing TEOAE testing duration to 12.5ms is feasible for preserving high and middle frequency information.
• Clinical application of shorter TEOAE testing windows requires careful consideration of potential low-frequency data loss.
• Further research may refine TEOAE analysis for faster and accurate hearing loss diagnosis.