TE and DP otoacoustic emission data from an Australian cross-sectional hearing study.

Objective:This paper presents a summary of otoacoustic emission (OAE) data collected as part of an Australian hearing health survey (Carter, 2011; Williams et al, 2014) designed to: (1) examine the relationship between audiological indicators and participant characteristics, and (2) extract audiological data suitable for reference use.Design:Cross-sectional cohort study. Distortion product (DP) OAE and transient evoked (TE) OAE measures.Study sample:Age range 11–35 years;N =1386 participants (2672 test ears).Results:Descriptive statistics for amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were calculated for 327 participants (589 test ears; age 13 to 32 years). DPOAE amplitudes down to the 25th percentile were > 0 dB SPL for test frequencies up to 6 kHz. TEOAE SNRs down to the 25th percentile were > 6 dB SPL up to 4 kHz.Summary:This dataset can be used as a clinical reference for similar populations, providing that the same test parameters are used.Conclusions:The clinical significance of OAE testing would be greater if agreed criteria were available. These data could be pooled with other datasets to build a substantial OAE database, similar to the existing international standards for pure-tone hearing threshold levels (HTLs) (ISO, 2000). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]