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Maturation and Aging of the Human Cochlea: A View through the DPOAE Looking Glass

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Abstract

Cochlear function changes throughout the human lifespan. Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) were recorded in 156 ears to examine these changes and speculate as to their mechanistic underpinnings. DPOAEs were analyzed within the context of current OAE generation theory, which recognizes distinct emission mechanisms. Seven age groups including premature newborns through senescent adults were tested with a swept-tone DPOAE protocol to examine magnitude and phase features of both the mixed DPOAE and individual distortion and reflection components. Results indicate (1) 6–8-month-old infants have the most robust DPOAE and component levels for frequencies >1.5 kHz; (2) older adults show a substantial reduction in DPOAE and distortion-component levels combined with a smaller drop in reflection-component levels; (3) all age groups manifest a violation of distortion phase invariance at frequencies below 1.5 kHz consistent with a secular break in cochlear scaling; the apical phase delay is markedly longer in newborns; and (4) phase slope of reflection emissions is most shallow in the older adults. Combined findings suggest that basilar membrane motion in the apical half of the cochlea is immature at birth and that the cochlea of senescent adults shows reduced nonlinearity and relatively shallow reflection-component phase slope, which can be interpreted to suggest degraded tuning.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health R01DC003552 and the House Research Institute. The authors would like to thank Srikanta Mishra, Shannon Luckovich (HRI), Angela Garinis (UW), Abigail Rogers, and Sumaya Sidique (NU) for data collection and Silvia Batezati, Laurel Fisher, and Ping Luo for assistance with data management. We appreciate helpful discussions with Bob Shannon and Chris Shera and thank Dr. Shera for his loess modeling script.

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  1. Division of Communication and Auditory Neuroscience, House Research Institute, 2100 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA, 90057, USA

    Carolina Abdala

  2. Knowles Hearing Center, Roxelyn & Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Sumitrajit Dhar

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  1. Carolina Abdala
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Correspondence to Carolina Abdala.

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Abdala, C., Dhar, S. Maturation and Aging of the Human Cochlea: A View through the DPOAE Looking Glass. JARO 13, 403–421 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-012-0319-2

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