[Oto-acoustic emissions and their significance for inner ear research]

In contrast to the formerly held opinion it is now clear that the spontaneous oto-acoustic emissions (OAEs) are pure sinus tones. Frequency shifting (small oscillations and a drifting in one of the two directions) causes broadening of the image in Fourier's transformation, especially when being averaged. These spontaneous OAEs can be observed in ears with minimal disturbance--often not yet detectable by means of pure tone threshold. In such ears the synchronisation of the hair-cells is out of order and this leads to the spontaneous OAEs. With increasing sensitivity of the microphones OAEs can be found in more and more ears. A connection between spontaneous and evoked OAEs can be shown when calculating a FFT from the image of an evoked emission: the spectrum is similar to that of spontaneous OAEs from the same ear. TTS situations in spontaneous OAEs: the reduction of the ability of synchronisation cancels the emission, which will reappear after some time (shifted in frequency). To explain the frequency resolution in the cochlea an active filter has been postulated and the OAEs are claimed to be a reflection of the same; in fact, they are one of the proverbial keyholes through which we might gain a glimpse of what is taking place in the cochlea.