Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jul-Aug;37(4):e273-5.
doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000275.

Behavioral Pure-Tone Threshold Shifts Caused by Tympanic Membrane Electrodes

Spencer B Smith  1 , Jeffery Lichtenhan, Barbara Cone
Affiliations

Behavioral Pure-Tone Threshold Shifts Caused by Tympanic Membrane Electrodes

Spencer B Smith et al. Ear Hear. 2016 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether tympanic membrane (TM) electrodes induce behavioral pure-tone threshold shifts.

Design: Pure-tone thresholds (250 to 8000 Hz) were measured twice in test (n = 18) and control (n = 10) groups. TM electrodes were placed between first and second threshold measurements in the test group, whereas the control group did not receive electrodes. Pure-tone threshold shifts were compared between groups. The effect of TM electrode contact location on threshold shifts was evaluated in the test group.

Results: TM electrodes significantly increased average low-frequency thresholds, 7.5 dB at 250 Hz and 4.2 dB at 500 Hz, and shifts were as large as 25 dB in individual ears. Also, threshold shifts did not appear to vary at any frequency with TM electrode contact location.

Conclusions: Low-frequency threshold shifts occur when using TM electrodes and insert earphones. These findings are relevant to interpreting electrocochleographic responses to low-frequency stimuli.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Otoscopy from an exemplary subject after TM electrode removal. Electrode gel (black arrow) and irritation (to the left of black arrow) identified that the TM electrode in this subject was on the posterior superior quadrant of the TM.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Average pure tone threshold shifts between first and second tests for the control group (●) and test group (♦; bars = ± 1 SEM).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Average threshold shifts as a function of frequency with TM electrode contact locations as the parameter (bars = ± 1 SEM). AS: anterior-superior quadrant; AI: anterior-inferior quadrant; PI: posterior-inferior quadrant; PS: posterior-superior quadrant.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Brown DJ, Gibson WP. On the differential diagnosis of Ménière's disease using low-frequency acoustic biasing of the 2f1-f2 DPOAE. Hear Res. 2011;282(1–2):119–127. - PubMed
    1. Carhart R, Jerger J. Preferred method for clinical determination of pure-tone thresholds. J Speech Hear Dis. 1959
    1. Cheng JT, Hamade M, Merchant SN, et al. Wave motion on the surface of the human tympanic membrane: holographic measurement and modeling analysis. J Acous Soc of Am. 2013;133(2):918–937. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chertoff M, Lichtenhan J, Willis M. Click-and chirp-evoked human compound action potentials. J Acous Soc of Am. 2010;127(5):2992–2996. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ferraro JA, Ferguson R. Tympanic ECochG and conventional ABR: a combined approach for the identification of wave I and the IV interwave interval. Ear Hear. 1989;10(3):161–166. - PubMed