Mild hearing-impaired listeners retain measurable DPOAEs

Evidence

The test population was formed with 10 subjects (4 male, 6 female), aged from 20 to 32 (mean: 25.9), that had near normal hearing thresholds (< 15 dB HL, flat), 4 subjects (3 male, 1 female) aged from 25 to 35 (mean: 25.9), with a normal 4 kHz threshold, but a slightly sloping audiogram in the higher frequencies, and 7 subjects (3 male, 4 female) aged from 39 to 75 (mean: 60.7), with a near 25 dB dB loss at 4 kHz and a mild hearing loss at the higher frequencies. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5872

The test population was formed with 10 subjects (4 male, 6 female), aged from 20 to 32 (mean: 25.9), that had near normal hearing thresholds (< 15 dB HL, flat), 4 subjects (3 male, 1 female) aged from 25 to 35 (mean: 25.9), with a normal 4 kHz threshold, but a slightly sloping audiogram in the higher frequencies, and 7 subjects (3 male, 4 female) aged from 39 to 75 (mean: 60.7), with a near 25 dB dB loss at 4 kHz and a mild hearing loss at the higher frequencies. We chose listeners with mild hearing losses to ascertain they would have measurable DPOAEs. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5877

Categorization

• SHARE: A methodological detail (choosing mild losses to retain DPOAEs) only an audiologist would care about.
• DEFINE: Clarifies DPOAE (distortion product otoacoustic emission) as a usable measure only in mild, not profound, hearing loss.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5872; Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5877