Reliability of contralateral suppression of otoacoustic emissions in children

Abstract

Objective

The purpose of the study was to determine the reliability in children of the medial olivocochlear reflex when measured as decibels of suppression of transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) by contralateral acoustic stimulation (CAS).

Design

TEOAEs with and without CAS (white noise) were measured. In each subject, measurements were performed twice. Of particular interest was the suppression of TEOAEs by CAS and its reliability. Reliability was evaluated by calculating the standard error of measurement (SEM) and minimum detectable change (MDC).

Study sample

Fifty-one normally hearing girls aged 3–6 years.

Results

The average global TEOAE suppression was around 0.6 dB. The highest reliability was for global values, with SEM of 0.2 dB and MDC of ±0.55 dB for the standard 2.5–20 ms recording window and slightly higher values for an 8–18 ms window. The worst reliability in the studied group was for the 1 kHz half-octave frequency band. Additionally, ears without spontaneous otoacoustic emissions had higher suppression levels than those with, but they also had lower signal-to-noise ratios, which may limit their clinical utility.

Conclusions

The current study shows that, under the studied paradigm, TEOAE suppression does not have satisfactory reliability since MDC was similar to the level of suppression.

Keywords:

• Otoacoustic emissions
• paediatric
• reliability
• medial olivocochlear efferents
• spontaneous otoacoustic emissions

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Andrew Bell for comments on an earlier version of this article and Joanna Rajchel for assistance with data collection.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The study was partially supported by OPUS grant 2014/15/B/NZ4/00700 financed by the Polish National Science Centre and by the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw, Poland. Preliminary results of this study were presented at AAS 2020.