Early Detection of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss



Status:Withdrawn
Conditions:Other Indications, Other Indications, Other Indications
Therapuetic Areas:Other
Healthy:No
Age Range:18 - 65
Updated:4/21/2016
Start Date:January 2010
End Date:December 2015

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This study measures sounds produced by the sensory receptors of the inner ear called hair
cells. These sounds are called otoacoustic emissions and one special case the investigators
are studying are called distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) produced by
presenting two tones to the ear. If the ear is damaged by noise exposure DPOAEs are reduced.
In this study the investigators are attempting to improve the DPOAE test by adding a third
tone to make the test more frequency specific. Whether the third tone helps will be
determined by comparing DPOAEs collected with and without the third tone to clinical
audiograms. If the addition of the third tone helps then the investigators expect DPOAEs
tracked as a function of frequency (DP-grams) will more closely match the clinical
audiograms.

The overall goal of the proposed research is to identify features of distortion product
otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) that will eventually improve clinical methods for the early
detection of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), which is a major sensory disability suffered
by military Veterans, in particular. Toward this end, a special-purpose DPOAE measure the
investigators call an augmented will be obtained. These DP-grams will test the notion that
subtle post-noise changes in the DPOAE response space can be more sensitively identified
when the f2 and basal source DPOAEs are isolated by the use of an interference tone (IT) and
vector subtraction methods than by the commonly employed standard DP-gram procedures. The
term 'augmented' maps or DP-grams was coined to describe these frequency functions when
obtained with the IT present in that, under this condition, the basal source that 'fills in'
or 'masks' the damage pattern is removed. The discovery of the contaminating basal source
promises to modify the hearing field's current knowledge concerning the fundamental
processes underlying DPOAE generation, and may also lead to the development of DPOAE tests
that more sensitively identify the earliest stages of NIHL. Such tests may also be useful in
Veterans, who are clinic patients and often have significant preexisting hearing losses in
that higher-level primary tones can be used to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
while maintaining their sensitivity and frequency specificity. The investigators will test
the ability of augmented DP-grams elicited by higher-level primary tones to uncover damaged
regions in Veterans with NIHL. The notion examined here is that high-level primary tones
will be more useful under conditions of preexisting hearing loss than conventional low-level
primaries using the optimized augmented DP-gram by removing basal sources that come into
play to obscure damaged cochlear regions as primary-tone levels are increased. Together, the
combined experiments will provide a more complete understanding of the generation of DPOAEs,
which will permit the creation of a useful clinical test for diagnosing and monitoring the
development of NIHL.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Veterans 18-65 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

- Individuals with no measurable distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs)
since the goal of the study is to relate DPOAEs to hearing function
We found this trial at
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Loma Linda, CA
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