OTOACOUSTIC EMISSION COCHLEOGRAPHY

畸变产物发射（DPE）已被证明是敏感的 耳蜗功能的指标。 其中的几个特点 特殊的耳声发射使它们成为 渐进性听力损失的测量。 因此，DPE似乎 独特的测试外毛细胞功能，他们只是测量 通过将微型麦克风系统插入外耳 耳道，他们可以精确地测量耳朵对细微声音的反应 刺激频率和强度的梯度。 所有这些积极 这些特性表明，DPE有朝一日可能会成为 听力障碍 我们最近进行了一项小型试点研究， 在听力正常和听力受损的耳朵上完成 支持DPE在临床环境中的潜在效用。 的 本研究建议首先扩展我们的初始数据库， 包括对正常听力受试者更大的采样， 可以进行可靠的描述性统计分析。 “正常”耳朵的个体差异来源将是 通过将DPEs与其他排放类型和细颗粒物相关联进行研究， 听证的解决措施。 此外，统计和 将调查技术程序，以评估其 有效减少DPE测量和相关测量的变化性 噪声本底，以增加响应的动态范围 measure. 其次，患者人群代表了几种常见的 将对进行性听力障碍患者进行DPE检测， 将这些措施与频率模式和 听力损失 还将尝试确定 听力障碍的病因显著影响DPE 结果 最后，将对选定的患者进行监测， 要求5年的项目期，以确定DPE的能力， 描述他们听力损失的过程。

Distortion-product emissions (DPEs) have been shown to be sensitive indicators of cochlear function. Several features of these particular otacoustic emissions make them important candidates for the measurement of progressive hearing loss. Thus, DPEs appear to uniquely test outer hair-cell function, they are simply measured by inserting a miniature microphone system into the external ear canal, and they can precisely measure the ear's response to subtle gradations in stimulus frequency and intensity. All these positive features suggest that DPEs may someday become a powerful test of hearing impairment. The outcome of a small pilot study we recently completed on both normally hearing and hearing-impaired ears supports the potential utility of DPEs in a clinical setting. The present study proposes first to extend our initial data base to include a larger sampling of normal hearing subjects so that reliable descriptive statistical analyses can be performed. Sources of individual variability in "normal" ears will be investigated by relating DPEs to other emission types and fine- resolution measures of hearing. In addition, statistical and technical procedures will be investigated to assess their effectiveness in reducing variability in DPE measures and related noise floors in order to increase the dynamic range of the response measure. Secondly, patient populations representing several common progressive-hearing disorders will be tested for DPEs in order to relate these measures to the frequency pattern and degree of hearing loss. An attempt will also be made to determine if the etiology of the hearing disorder significantly influences the DPE results. Finally, selected patients will be monitored over the requested 5-yr project period to establish the ability of DPEs to describe the course of their progressive-hearing losses.