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An Insight In to Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) Testing

The health of our ears plays a vital role in our daily lives as it enables us to hear and learn speech. Hearing and interpreting different sounds is also important for understanding the world better. A hearing problem can bring difficulties in your life and hinder you from functioning optimally. Advancements in science and technology have now equipped us with devices such as ear check equipment that enable audiologists to assess hearing problems and provide the necessary treatment. This helps in eliminating various hearing problems or lowering their effect on your ear health. In this article,

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An Insight In to Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) Testing

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  1. AN INSIGHT IN TO OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS (OAE) TESTING

  2. INTRODUCTION The health of our ears plays a vital role in our daily lives as it enables us to hear and learn speech. Hearing and interpreting different sounds is also important for understanding the world better. A hearing problem can bring difficulties in your life and hinder you from functioning optimally. Advancements in science and technology have now equipped us with devices such as ear check equipment that enable audiologists to assess hearing problems and provide the necessary treatment. This helps in eliminating various hearing problems or lowering their effect on your ear health. In this article, we will focus on OAE testing and its uses.

  3. What are OAE (Otoacoustic Emissions) and OAE Testing? OAE is a sound that our cochlea (spiral cavity of the inner ear) generates and transmits to the external ear canal. This sound is generated in reaction to a sound. Sometimes this sound is also generated without any stimulation from the outside. OAE is a natural sound that our body and brain utilise in our daily life to function properly. Therefore, these sounds are used in evaluating the health of our ears. OAE tests specifically focus on the cochlea and inner ear and determine whether you’ve got a case of hearing loss. Healthy individuals would produce OAE that the audiologists can detect by using ear check equipment. People experiencing a hearing loss of more than 25 decibels will fail to produce OAEs. Since this sound is primarily a reaction sound generated after our inner ear receives a sound from the outside, OAE testing can also help audiologists in determining whether there is a blockage in your middle or outer ear that is tampering with your hearing health. Blockages in the outer sections of your ear can prevent sound from reaching the inner ear, eventually resulting in no generation of OAE.

  4. OAE TESTING USES OAE testing is one of the many tests conducted on infants to detect signs of health issues. Audiologists can perform otoacoustic emissions tests to determine deafness or functional hearing loss in a newborn. Functional hearing loss is a term that indicates an individual has symptoms of hearing loss but all his or her ear parts are functioning properly. OAE testing is key to determining hearing loss problems in newborn babies but doesn’t provide definitive results. Therefore, audiologists use other ear check equipment on individuals that fail OAE testing to assess hearing loss. The absence of OAEs in an individual can be attributed to external otitis, cysts, otosclerosis, cholesteatoma, stenosis, etc.

  5. How is OAE Test Performed? Contrary to common belief, OAE tests don’t hurt any individual or newborn baby and are safe for all. Small probes are placed inside the ear in this simplistic test that functions as both microphones and sound-creating devices. Once a sound is generated in one of the probes, a fully-functional cochlea would produce sound as a response that the microphonic probe would record. The cochlea produces four types of sounds that are mentioned below. Spontaneous Acoustic Emissions: These sounds generated in the cochlea aren’t produced as a response to any incoming sound. Spontaneous acoustic emissions are noticed by audiologists in about 50% of people that have normal hearing. Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions: The cochlea generates distortion product OAEs in response to two simultaneous tones that have different frequencies. Transient OAE: Clicks, tone-bursts, and other short-duration sounds evoke reactions from the cochlea in the form of transient OAEs. These sounds are commonly used by audiologists to evaluate hearing in infants. Sustained Frequency OAEs: These sounds are produced by the cochlea in response to a continuous tone

  6. Choosing the Right Audiologist for OAE Testing You would have to visit an audiology clinic f there is an infant in your family that requires otoacoustic emissions testing. You should prefer choosing an audiologist that has the best quality ear check equipment in addition to the right skill set and years of experience. Reading customer reviews and testimonials can help you in finding an appropriate audiologist that would assess and evaluate hearing loss problems accurately before providing adequate medical assistance to help in recovery.

  7. THANK YOU..

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