Growth of suppression in humans based on distortion-product otoacoustic emission measurements

Michael P. Gorga, Stephen T. Neely, Judy Kopun, Hongyang Tan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) were used to describe suppression growth in normal-hearing humans. Data were collected at eight f 2 frequencies ranging from 0.5 to 8 kHz for L 2 levels ranging from 10 to 60 dB sensation level. For each f 2 and L 2 combination, suppression was measured for nine or eleven suppressor frequencies (f 3) whose levels varied from -20 to 85 dB sound pressure level (SPL). Suppression grew nearly linearly when f 3 ≈ f 2, grew more rapidly for f 3 f 2, and grew more slowly for f 3 f 2. These results are consistent with physiological and mechanical data from lower animals, as well as previous DPOAE data from humans, although no previous DPOAE study has described suppression growth for as wide a range of frequencies and levels. These trends were evident for all f 2 and L 2 combinations; however, some exceptions were noted. Specifically, suppression growth rate was less steep as a function of f 3 for f 2 frequencies 1 kHz. Thus, despite the qualitative similarities across frequency, there were quantitative differences related to f 2, suggesting that there may be subtle differences in suppression for frequencies above 1 kHz compared to frequencies below 1 kHz.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)801-816
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of the Acoustical Society of America
Volume129
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2011

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Acoustics and Ultrasonics

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