Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission (DPOAE) Measurement in Tinnitus Patients: Is it Really Useful?
Keywords:
Tinnitus; DPOAE; Outer Hair Cells; PTA.Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate the Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) in tinnitus patients as an indicator of the outer hair cell function of cochlea. Study Design: Prospective study. Setting: Tertiary care hospital. Subjects and Methods: The study included 90 subjects aged between 12 years and 76 years. The subjects were divided into three groups, Group-I included the normal hearing subjects without tinnitus, and they were taken as control, Group-II included patients with tinnitus and normal hearing and Group-III included patients with tinnitus and reduced hearing. The Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) hearing threshold and DPOAE were evaluated and their correlationin tinnitus patients was studied. Results:The PTA hearing threshold in the patients with tinnitus and normal hearing was higher than the normal hearing and without tinnitus subjects and it was further higher in the patients with tinnitus and reduced hearing. The DPOAE levels in the patients with tinnitus and normal hearing was lower than the normal hearing and without tinnitus subjects and this was much lower in the patients with tinnitus and reduced hearing. The DPOAE had non-linear relationship with the hearing level. Conclusions:The tinnitus patients have impaired function of the outer hair cells of cochlea as revealed byDPOAE measurement in our study. The reduced DPOAE in the patients with tinnitus and normal hearing threshold also predicts the possibility of impending hearing loss.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Danish Ahmad Khan, Aftab Ahmed, Md Anas, Pramod Kumar Varshney

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