Age-related Changes in Evoked Otoacoustic Emission

Abstract

Age-related changes in maximum amplitude and pseudothreshold of evoked otoacoustic emission (e-OAE) were investigated. The subject consisted of 52 normal hearing ears from 41 persons with the age between 6 years old and 73 years old. The e-OAE was elicited by tone-bursts with 6 frequencies between 500Hz and 4 kHz.
The results obtained were as follows;
1) Any meaningful age-related change was not found in maximum amplitude of e-OAE.
2) The e-OAE pseudothreshold was elevated along the age increased.
3) It is suggested that the function of cochlear micromechanics deteriorates along the age increases even in normal hearing ears.