Valuation of Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions and Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions in Tinnitus Patients with Normal Hearing / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aims to verify that one of the causes of tinnitus is the malfunction of outer hair cells and, on the basis of this, to investigate the usefulness of otoacoustic emissions by performing transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) and distor-tion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE). SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Included in the study were forty-one patients who had normal hearing in the range from 0.5 to 8 kHz, and complained of unilateral tinnitus. In these patients, hearing in bilateral ears, TEOAE, DPOAE, as well as the frequency & amplitude of their tinnitus were measured. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was found in bilateral hearing in patients who complained of unilateral tinnitus. However, TEOAE and DPOAE showed a statistically significant difference with their p-values at 0.04 and 0.004, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggested that TEOAE testing and DPOAE testing provide an important clue for verifying that the loss of outer hair cells contributed to the development of symptoms suffered by tinnitus patients with normal hearing.