Absent otoacoustic emissions signal abnormal inner or middle ear function

Evidence

Objective measurements, however, can be used in cases where it is not possible to communicate with the human subject. Babies only a few months of age are typical cases. It is very important to determine as early as possible whether the hearing system acts normally or abnormally. To make such a decision, the measurement of delayed evoked otoacoustic emissions in babies can produce helpful information. Almost 98% of normally hearing subjects, including babies, produce these emissions. Therefore, their lack can be used as an indication that the development of the inner ear is at least not normal, or that the middle ear strongly attenuates the sound transmission. The existence of emissions indicates that middle and inner ear act normally, at least in that frequency range in which the emissions can be measured. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1873

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: the physics-to-biology bridge of newborn hearing screening — how a purely mechanical echo in the ear became the standard objective screen for infant deafness, precisely because it fails only past ~20 dB loss.