Source of level dependent minima in rabbit distortion product otoacoustic emissions

Sharp level dependent minima (commonly called nulls or notches) in the distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) have been postulated to be due to two different mechanisms. It is shown here that the level dependent nulls in rabbit 2f(1)-f(2) DPOAEs carry the signature of the mixing of a third order nonlinear term with a fifth order nonlinear term. This suggests that the minima are not due to the mixing of signals from two different physical sites of origin, but rather are due to the nature of the nonlinearity itself. Model simulations show that null production is indifferent to several properties of nonlinear input/output functions.