1987 Volume 30 Issue 3 Pages 180-186
Evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOE) were investigated bilaterally in 25 normal-hearing subjects. Three acoustic click stimuli, produced by one sinusoid of 1kHz, 2kHz or 4kHz were used.
EOE were recorded from all ears, and their input-output functions were nonlinear. Among three click stimuli, EOE amplitudes were the highest in most ears by 1kHz click stimulus, but EOE thresholds did not differ significantly. EOE thresholds by 1kHz click stimulus existed between -25dBSL and 15dBSL, and their distribution had one peak at 0dBSL. The mean value of them was -2.2dBSL. Therefore, it was considered that the EOE thresholds of 1kHz click stimulus approximated the psychoacoustic thresholds of this stimulus. The interaural difference of EOE thresholds was small, and it was less than 10dB in 80.0% of total subjects. EOE thresholds had good reproducibility.
From these results, it can be concluded that EOE can be useful for examining cochlear function and that the EOE threshold can be a significant parameter for EOE measurement.
