Temporal patterns of transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions in normal and impaired cochleae

The spatial distribution of outer hair cells that participate in generating transient-EOE frequency-components has been investigated in man. According to several models (e.g. Wilson (1990) Hear. Res. 2, 527-532; Zwicker (1986) J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 80, 154-162; Wilson and Kemp (Eds.), Cochlear Mechanisms, Structures, Functions and Models, Plenum Press, NY), EOEs result from interferences between broadly distributed contributions, responsible for their long frequency-dependent delay. This work presents an analysis of the temporal patterns of click- and tone-burst-EOEs in human ears when contributions to EOEs are reduced by noise-induced lesions with audiometric notches centred around 4 kHz (N = 46). Although the auditory thresholds at the frequencies of the studied EOE-components were always normal, these components exhibited drastic and predictable changes compared to normal control ears (N = 40). (1) Their temporal pattern at the highest EOE frequency fmax just below the audiometric notch appeared to be determined by the cochlear state at high frequencies (6 to 8 kHz). Either it was normal and the EOE exhibited a complicated beat-structure, or it was impaired and the time envelope of the EOE was simple. In contrast, any type of time pattern could be observed in normal ears. (2) The temporal patterns of EOEs one octave below fmax always presented many beats and short delays. The proposed interpretation is that contributions to a transient-EOE component at frequency f can come from distant basal cochlear areas, i.e. more than 1 and sometimes 1.5 octaves from the place tuned to f. Therefore, the possible relationships between transient-EOEs and tuning mechanisms which presumably involve only a small number of OHC need further investigations.