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Otoacoustic emissions in children with normal ears, middle ear dysfunction, and ventilating tubes
J J Owens1, M J McCoy, B L Lonsbury-Martin
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
Insights
Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) show promise for assessing middle ear function in children. While results differ from adults, OAEs can help identify middle ear abnormalities in pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Otoacoustic Emissions
- Pediatric Hearing Assessment
Background:
- Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) are widely used for adult hearing evaluations.
- The efficacy of OAE testing in pediatric populations requires further investigation.
- Understanding OAE characteristics in children with and without middle ear disorders is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of otoacoustic emissions (OAE) testing in children.
- To establish normative data for OAE measures in healthy young ears.
- To compare OAE results in children with middle ear pathologies to those of healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Measured distortion-product OAE (DPOAE) audiograms and response/growth functions.
- Recorded transiently evoked OAEs (TEOAEs) using clicks in children aged 4–13 years.
- Included healthy volunteers and children with confirmed middle ear disorders (Type B/C tympanograms, ventilating tubes).
Main Results:
- Healthy young ears showed higher mean DPOAE and noise-floor amplitudes than adults.
- Children with middle ear disorders (Type B/C tympanograms) had absent or reduced OAE amplitudes.
- Ears with ventilating tubes had intermediate OAE amplitudes between healthy and untreated diseased ears.
Conclusions:
- OAEs provide valuable insights into middle ear function in children.
- OAE testing is useful for identifying middle ear abnormalities in pediatric patients.
- Interpreting OAEs for outer hair cell function in infected ears may be challenging.
Abstract:
The clinical utility of otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) has been well established in adults. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the efficacy of OAE testing in children. Distortion-product OAE (DPOAE) audiograms, response/growth functions, and transiently evoked OAEs elicited with clicks were measured from the ears of both healthy volunteers, aged 4 to 13 years, and children with confirmed middle ear disorders. These measures established the means and variabilities for DPOAE and noise-floor amplitudes of normal and diseased young ears. Compared with adult emissions, the healthy young ears exhibited greater mean DPOAE and noise-floor amplitudes. In contrast, ears with type B and type C tympanogram patterns showed absent or markedly reduced OAE amplitudes, when compared with emissions measured in their control counterparts. Finally, ears with ventilating tubes exhibited OAE amplitudes lower than amplitudes from healthy ears, but higher than those of the untreated diseased ears. Although these findings imply that using OAEs to test the outer hair-cell reserve of infected ears is problematic, emitted responses provide useful information concerning the normalcy of middle ear function.