Narrow-Band Evoked Oto-Acoustic Emission from Ears with Normal and Pathologic Conditions

<i>Conclusion:</i> Evoked oto-acoustic emission (EOAE), in particular the slow component, is fragile with the inner ear lesions and is apt to disappear in impaired ears. This presence is thought to mean that inner ear is not badly damaged, and that the presence of EOAEs in early stage sudden deafness carries a good prognosis. Narrow-band EOAE analysis would open a potentially promising way to manage sensorineural deafness. <i>Objective:</i> The aim of present study was to evaluate the characteristics of EOAEs from pathologic ears by a narrow-band EOAE analysis, which allowed us to investigate amplitude, frequency content and latency of EOAEs simultaneously and also to easily detect weak echoes in cases with inner ear lesions. <i>Materials and Methods:</i> EOAEs were analyzed by investigating narrow-band frequency contents of EOAEs, filtered by a 100-Hz step of pass bandwidth in frequency regions from 1.0 to 2.0 kHz, and by 500 Hz of pass bandwidth in the frequency ranges of 0.5–1.0 and 2.0–5.0 kHz. EOAE testing was performed in 40 normal ears and 111 ears with pathologic disorders, including sudden deafness, Ménière’s disease and surgically proven acoustic neurinomas. Spontaneous oto-acoustic emission was investigated in some cases. In acoustic neurinoma, especially computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging tests were performed to assess the tumor size. <i>Results:</i> (1) Narrow-band EOAE analysis revealed that EOAEs from normal ears were composed of two main echo trains and several sub-echoes. The main echo trains were divided into a fast component with a short latency of <10 ms and a slow component with a long latency of >10 ms. (2) EOAEs could often be detected from ears with moderate to severe hearing loss >45 dB HL in early stage sudden deafness. The prognosis of sudden deafness was good in cases where both a fast component and slow component were detected in the acute stage within 2 weeks after the deafness onset, and was pessimistic, when either or both of them failed to recover. (3) In Ménière’s disease, EOAE was found in 6 (40%) of 15 cases with hearing loss >50 dB, and detected in 54 (90%) of 60 cases with slight to moderate deafness <50 dB HL. Echo duration tended to become shorter, and the slow component decreased in amplitude even in ears with slight deafness <30 dB. The detection threshold of the slow component was also elevated. In ears with more advanced deafness, the slow component disappeared and only the fast component with short latency persisted. Ultimately, the fast component also faded out if the hearing was severely impaired. (4) EOAEs were detectable in 20 (95.2%) of 21 ears with surgically proven acoustic neurinoma, 16 of which had both the slow and fast components. The echo pattern of acoustic neurinoma was basically similar to that of normal ears, but the detection threshold was elevated to a varying degree, although there were some cases with much better detection threshold as compared with severe deafness.