A normative study on wideband tympanometry and energy reflectance in human ears: effects of repetitive measurements

Paper presented to the 9th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Marcus Welcome Center, Wichita State University, May 8, 2013.Research completed at the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Health ProfessionsThe hearing organ includes the outer, middle, and inner ear. The middle ear transfers sounds into the inner. Wideband energy reflectance (ER) is a new clinical procedure that assesses middle ear function. It gives information for a broad frequency range, an advantage over currently used 226 Hz tympanometry procedure. Previous studies reported that repetitive testing of single-frequency tympanometry altered outcomes. We investigated ER measures with eight consecutive wideband tympanometry tests in normal adult ears. This study has provided the first set of data showing significant frequency-specific change in ER measures. For further research that requires repeated measurements, this effect needs to be minimized to improve reliability.The Graduate School, Academic Affairs, and University Librarie