Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2026
Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
[Distortion product otoacoustic emissions in infants from birth to two months]
Vanessa Sinelli Pinto1, Doris Ruthy Lewis
1Pontificia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brazil. vanessasinelli@uol.com.br
Insights
Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) testing in infants provides key data for auditory assessment. Percentile 5 may indicate hearing loss, while percentile 95 suggests normal hearing in infants aged 0-2 months.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Otoacoustic Emissions
- Infant Hearing
Context:
- Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) analysis requires established parameters for infant auditory assessment.
- Infant hearing screening is crucial for early detection of auditory impairments.
Purpose:
- To establish DPOAE parameters for infants aged 0-2 months.
- To analyze DPOAE response levels, noise levels, and signal-to-noise ratios across frequencies.
- To investigate the influence of gender, tympanometry, and infant state on DPOAE results.
Summary:
- 138 infants (6-65 days old) without hearing loss risk factors were evaluated using specific DPOAE parameters (L1=65 dB SPL, L2=50 dB SPL).
- Median DPOAE levels ranged from 6.0 to 16.3 dB SPL, noise levels from -12.5 to -2.1 dB SPL, and signal-to-noise ratios from 10.5 to 25.5 dB SPL.
- No significant differences in response levels were found based on gender or tympanometry pressure peaks.
Impact:
- Established DPOAE normative data for infants aged 0-2 months.
- Proposed clinical interpretation guidelines: percentile 5 for potential hearing loss, percentile 95 for normal hearing.
- Highlights the need for further studies on infants with hearing loss to refine DPOAE's clinical utility.
Background:
There is a need to determine parameters for the analyses of the distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) of infants so that it can be used as a clinical criterion in auditory assessment.
Aim:
To describe the DPOAE records of infants from birth to two months, considering the response level, noise level and the signal to noise ratio in all frequencies; the analysis of response level according to the variables of gender, timpanometry pressure peak, state of infant during the test and distribution of the response percentile level.
Method:
138 infants were evaluated, all of which presented no risk indicators for hearing loss and passed the hearing screening test. The parameters used were: L1=65 dB SPL and L2=50 dB SPL in the equipment ILO292-Otodynamics.
Results:
70 male and 68 female were evaluated, with ages between 6 to 65 days. The medians for DPOAE level for each frequency (f2) varied between 6.0 dB SPL and 16.3 dB SPL. The medians for the noise level for each frequency (f2) varied between -12.5 dB SPL and -2.1 dB SPL. The medians for the signal to noise ratio for each frequency (f2) varied between 10.5 dB SPL and 25.5 dB SPL.
Conclusions:
There was no statistically significant difference between genders and between ears for the response level. The timpanometry pression peak determined by three groups (between -50 and +50 daPa; <-50 daPa and >+50 daPa) indicated no influence on records of the response level. For clinical interpretation, percentile 5 can suggest hearing loss and percentile 95 can suggest normal hearing. Studies with infants who present hearing loss are considered important in order to complement the clinical criterion in case of presence of DPOAE and hearing loss.
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