Objective assessment of subjective tinnitus through contralateral suppression of otoacoustic emissions by white noise: effects of frequency, gender, tinnitus bilaterality and age.

Objective assessment of subjective tinnitus through contralateral suppression of otoacoustic emissions by white noise: effects of frequency, gender, tinnitus bilaterality and age.
Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital. 2018 Apr;38(2):131-137
Authors: Riga M, Komis A, Maragoudakis P, Korres G, Ferekidis E, Danielides V
Abstract
SUMMARY: Accumulating evidence seems to support an association between tinnitus and medial olivocochlear bundle (MOCB) dysfunction. Most studies use patient/control comparisons to support this correlation. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis in a substantially different way and evaluate the roles of gender, age, frequency and tinnitus bilaterality as possible confounding factors. The population consisted of 78 normal hearing patients with chronic tinnitus, 28 normal hearing controls, 19 presbycousic tinnitus patients and 13 presbycousic controls (n = 276 ears). Mean suppression amplitudes of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) and distortion product OAEs (DPOAEs) by contralateral white noise (50 dB SPL) were computed. Mean suppression values < 1 dB SPL or < 2 dB SPL were validated as positive test results. Overall suppression (OS) values < 1 dB SPL were qualified as a diagnostic test of moderate positive predictive value for both DPOAEs and TEOAEs, while OS values < 2 dB SPL were found to be of large negative predictive value for DPOAEs and moderate for TEOAEs. Mean suppression ...

Source: Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica - July 5, 2018 Category: ENT & OMF Tags: Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital Source Type: research