2fl-f2 DPOAE fine structure for 12 symphony orchestra musicians before and after rehearsal

The distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) fine structure is revealed, when measuring DPOAE with a very fine frequency resolution. It is characterized by consistent maxima and minima with notches of up to 20 dB depth. The fine structure is known also from absolute hearing thresholds, and it has been suggested that the fine structures correlate with hearing level. In a previous study the prevalence and character of distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) fine structure was analyzed for 40 young, normal-hearing subjects. In this study the DPOAE fine structure was determined and analyzed for 12 symphony orchestra musicians using the same measurement parameters as in the previous study. Only musicians, without known hearing problems, participated in the study. The purpose of this study was to analyze the DPOAE fine structure characteristics in this group of exposed test subjects, before and after rehearsal, and to compare with the non-exposed group of subjects