The Application Of DPOAE In Detecting Auditory Dysfunction Of Presbycusis

Objective: To evaluate the clinical value of distortion product otoacoustic emissions(DPOAE) in detecting auditory dysfunction of presbycusis.Methods: The volunteers were recruited from physical examination center of affiliated hospital of zunyi medical college. Volunteers that entered into this study were divided into three groups: young people group(adults with normal hearing, 11 females, 9 males, rang in age from 20 to 30), group A(the elderly with the normal pure-tone threshold results, 13 females, 11 males, rang in age from 60 to 70), group B(the elderly with presbycusis, 16 females, 22 males, rang in age from 60 to 70). All the subjects in this three groups were examined by DPOAE, and we analyze the results of this three groups at last.Results: The results showed that the DPOAE amplitude at all 9 frequencies in elderly group(A and B) are lower than young people group(p<0.05), and group B are significantly lower than group A at 3.0~8.0 k Hz(p<0.05). The pure tone audiometry(PTA) result of group B showed that the hearing loss level mainly decreased in high frequencies, and the steep drop type is the main hearing curve type. In high frequencies, the hearing loss of the steep drop type showed significantly lower than slow descend type and flat type(p<0.05), and the DPOAE amplitude of the steep drop type showed significantly lower than slow descend type and flat type in sensorineural frequencies(p<0.05). The incidences of DPOAE, especially at high frequencies, were gradually lower along with its hearing loss and age in this three groups.Conclusion: Our findings indicate that DPOAE could be a more usefull examination than PTA in early detecting auditory dysfunction of presbycusis. The results of DPOAE were consistent with PTA test. The combined application of DPOAE and PTA in detecting auditory dysfunction of presbycusis may provide more clinical significance.