Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions in 6/7 Year-old Children with Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Abstract

Evoked otoacoustic emissions (e-OAE) were examined in 62 ears of 6 to 7 year-old children with normal hearing or with sensori-neural hearing loss; in which 26 ears were normal hearing,8 were mumps deafness,8 were functional deafness and 18 were deaf ears of unknown origin. Mean detection threshold of e-OAE was 5.2 dBnHL in the normal hearing ears and 8.8 dBnHL in the ears of functional deafness, whereas mean threshold was 42.5 dBnHL in the ears of inner ear impairment and 40.9 dBnHL in the deaf ears of unknown origin. The results indicate that the ears with sensorineural hearing loss of unknown origin are mostly inner ear impairment and that the e-OAE may be useful as a screening hearing test for preschool age.