DPOAE repeatability

In order to be able to determine whether variations in successive otoacoustic emission measurements reflect functional changes in the cochlea rather than measurement error, it is necessary to determine the test/ retest reliability of the procedure itself. This involves establishing confidence limits upon variability of the data for repeated measurements. The repeatability of DPOAE (distortion product otoacoustic emission) recordings is investigated for one set of measurement parameters and for two conditions: 1) with probe removement and reinsertion between measurements and 2) without removing the probe. From this experiment the variability of probe reinsertion, the variability of the measurement procedure itself and the inter- and intra-subject variabilities can be determined. Measurements of DPOAEs at 26 frequencies from 600 Hz to 6 kHz has been carried out for 32 test subjects repeated 4 times with and without replacement of the measurement probe. (PhD scholarship by the Oticon Foundation, STVF framework programme)