Transient-evoked and distortion product otoacoustic emission : a short-term test-retest reliability study

Knowledge regarding the variability of transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) is essential in clinical settings and improves their utility in monitoring hearing status over time. In the Current Study, TEOAFs and DPOAEs were measured with commercially available OAE-equipment in 56 normally-hearing cars during three sessions. Reliability was analysed for the retest measurement without probe-refitting. the immediate retest measurement with probe-refitting, and retest measurements after one hour and one week. The highest reliability was obtained in the retest measurement without probe-refining, and decreased with increasing time-interval between measurements. For TEOAEs, the lowest reliability was seen at half-octave frequency hands 1.0 and 1.4 kHz whereas for DPOAEs half-octave frequency hand 8.0 kHz had also poor reliability. Higher primary tone level combination for DPOAEs yielded to a better reliability of DPOAE amplitudes. External environmental noise seemed to be the dominating noise source in normal-hearing subjects, decreasing the reliability of emission amplitudes especially in the low-frequency region