[Products of acoustic distortion in the examination of deafness in an infant]. / Les produits de distorsion acoustique dans le dépistage de la surdité du jeune enfant.

Distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) are otoacoustic emissions evoked by two pure tones. The greatest advantage of DPOAEs is their frequency specificity with respect to the eliciting bitonal stimuli. The purpose of this study was to compare DPOAEs in two populations. This paper reports input/output DPOAEs functions and DPOAE-audiograms for audiometric frequencies of f2 between 696 and 6006 Hz in a normal neonate population and in an adult control group. Fifteen healthy fullterm newborns (29 ears) and 8 normal-hearing adults (16 ears) participated as subjects. Results at medium frequencies indicate that the maximum amplitudes of the DPOAEs were generated by neonates, the detection threshold was better and the dynamic range was greater than in adults, making them potentially valid for studying cochlear functioning in infants.