Effects of Early Stopping Rules, Stimulus Levels, and Ear Differences on Transient-Evoked Otoacoustic Emission (TEOAE)-Based Assays of the Medial-Olivocochlear Reflex (MOCR)
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Background: The strength of the medial-olivocochlear reflex (MOCR) may indicate susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss. NSMRL have developed a clinical MOCR assay based on a transient-evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) test paired with a contralateral noise elicitor. A faster test is desirable for clinical settings. We investigated early stopping rules based on minimum test quality (signal-to-noise ratio and noise level), a higher stimulus level, and whether just one ear could be tested. Results: Stopping rules sped the test up by 30% without degrading test quality. A higher stimulus level showed little-to-no effect in this highly-selected group. Ears were correlated but only moderately. Conclusions: Stopping rules are advised to improve test efficiency. A higher stimulus level may be warranted in a more heterogeneous population. Both ears need testing to get a full picture of the MOCR strength.
Effects of Early Stopping Rules, Stimulus Levels, and Ear Differences on Transient-Evoked Otoacoustic Emission (TEOAE)-Based Assays of the Medial-Olivocochlear Reflex (MOCR)