MEASUREMENTS OF COCHLEAR DEVELOPMENT IN INFANTS

耳声测量已经被广泛接受 耳声发射(OAE)提供对耳蜗毛功能的评估，以及 因此，正在成为一种被接受的婴儿听力筛查工具。他们 还提供了重要信息和对 耳蜗力学模型的建立。越来越多地，与年龄和刺激相关的- OAE中的相关变化或差异被解释为 显示耳蜗功能变化或差异的指标。为 例如，对侧声刺激对耳声发射的改变 被认为是一种研究耳蜗功能的工具- 传出系统。然而，我们之前的一些结果，以及 来自其他实验室的结果表明，中间/外部的变化 耳朵功能可以产生耳声发射的变化，类似于 被解释为耳蜗功能的改变。这很重要， 因此，要仔细评估由以下因素引起的OAE变化/差异 中耳的变化/差异。我们建议通过以下方式实现这一目标 两种方法：一种是继续对国有企业进行纵向测量 在我们从出生起就一直跟踪的婴儿中；另一个是 同时测量自发和诱发的发射，以及 宽带中耳输入阻抗。 本项目的第二个主要关注点是确定 哪些不稳定的国有企业可能是导致出人意料的高患病率的一个因素 听力正常儿童中耳鸣的发生率约为10%。这将是 将在一项研究中解决，在该研究中，将在以下儿童中测量国有企业 根据对耳鸣的反应确定为耳鸣 问卷调查。证据表明，一些人 国有企业被认为是耳鸣，而大多数并不是适应方面的谎言。 SOAE中的某些频率和幅度不稳定性会导致释放 从适应。在一项配套研究中，心理物理研究 适应具有幅度和/或频率变化的低水平音调 与我们在国有企业中测量的类似，将执行 确定哪些类型的不稳定最有可能被听到为 耳鸣。

It has become well accepted that measurements of otoacoustic acoustic emissions (OAEs) provide an assessment of gross cochlear functioning, and as such are becoming an accepted tool for screening infant hearing. They also have provided important information for, and constraints on, the modeling of cochlear dynamics. Increasingly, age-related and stimulus- related changes or differences in OAEs are being interpreted as indicators of changes or differences in cochlear functioning. For example, changes in OAEs with contralateral acoustic stimulation have been proposed as a tool for studying the functioning of the cochlear- efferent system. However some of our previous results, along with results from other laboratories, suggest that changes in middle/external ear functioning can produce changes in OAEs similar to those being interpreted as changes in cochlear functioning. It is important, therefore, to carefully assess changes/differences in OAEs caused by changes/differences in the middle ear. We propose to accomplish this by two methods: one is a continuation of longitudinal measurements of SOAEs in the infants whom we have been following from birth; the other is the concurrent measurement of spontaneous and evoked emissions, along with broadband middle ear input impedance. The second major focus of this project is to determine the extent to which unstable SOAEs may be a factor in the surprisingly high prevalence of tinnitus in normal-hearing children (on the order of 10%). this will be addressed in a study in which SOAEs will be measured in children who are determined to have tinnitus based on their responses to a questionnaire. The evidence suggests that the primary reason that some SOAEs are heard as tinnitus whereas most are not lies in adaptation. Certain frequency and amplitude instabilities in SOAEs lead to a release from adaptation. In a companion study, psychophysical studies of adaptation for low level tones with amplitude and/or frequency variations similar to those we have measured in SOAEs will be performed in order to determine which types of instabilities are most likely to be heard as tinnitus.