Contralateral Ear Occlusion for Improving the Reliability of Otoacoustic Emission Screening Tests

Table 1

TEOAE data from six subjects comparing OAE levels with contralateral ear occluded versus open. 𝑃 values of paired Student’s 𝑡-test results and significance are indicated.

Subject	TEOAE (dB) contra ear plugged	TEOAE (dB) contra ear open	Difference (dB)	𝑃 value	Significance
Noise level <25 dB SPL
PAP	14.21	14.11	0.1	0.42	NO
ALL	9.42	9.3	0.12	0.629	NO
GLU	13.1	13.4	−0.3	0.471	NO
LAR	10.35	10.05	0.3	0.46	NO
HAR	5.08	4.86	0.21	0.15	NO
SKL	13.2	13.18	0.016	0.6109	NO
Noise level c. 45 dB SPL
PAP	14.59	13.62	0.96	0.003	YES
ALL	9.6	8.35	1.25	0.044	YES
GLU	13.22	12.28	0.93	0.112	NO
LAR	9.12	8.72	0.4	0.093	NO
HAR	5.75	5.6	0.13	0.604	NO
SKL	12.12	11.65	0.46	0.0004	YES
Noise level 55 dB SPL
PAP	13.98	12.88	1.1	<0.0001	YES
ALL	8.55	7.7	1.05	0.0085	YES
GLU	13.55	11.9	1.65	<0.0001	YES
LAR	8.78	7.9	0.88	0.151	NO
HAR	5.75	5.0	0.21	0.021	YES
SKL	12.28	11.92	0.366	0.0197	YES
Babble level 55 dB SPL
PAP	13.63	12.62	1.02	0.0113	YES
ALL	9.47	8.41	1.057	0.0036	YES
GLU	13.55	12.15	1.4	0.0002	YES
LAR	9.43	8.33	1.1	0.009	YES
HAR	5.95	5.38	0.56	0.035	YES
SKL	13.35	12.95	0.4	0.0015	YES