Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions and Self Reported Sound Exposure

Ordoñez R, Hammershøi D. Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions and Self Reported Sound Exposure. In: Convention Paper. Audio Engineering Society; 2026.pp. 10300:1-. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23194

@inproceedings{Ordonez2026_23194,
  author = {Ordoñez, Rodrigo and Hammershøi, Dorte},
  title = {{Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions and Self Reported Sound Exposure}},
  pages = {10300:1-},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions and Self Reported Sound Exposure
AU  - Ordoñez, Rodrigo
AU  - Hammershøi, Dorte
SP  - 1
M1  - Paper 10300
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/28
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23194
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Headphone listening has become an integral part of everyday life, spanning music consumption, communication, online media, and increasingly, computer gaming. These diverse listening contexts make individual sound exposure highly variable and difficult to quantify. While recruiting people for listening tests, a recurrent observation is that potential participants report daily use of headphones for diverse purposes. This study investigated the relationship between self-reported sound exposure and cochlear function assessed using transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE). Forty-one university students completed a detailed questionnaire on listening habits, and TEOAEs were recorded in both ears across five half-octave frequency bands. Estimated weekly exposure levels were derived from participants reported durations and contexts of use. TEOAE amplitude, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and reproducibility showed clear frequency-dependent patterns and small ear asymmetries, consistent with typical OAE behaviour. Only week associations between self-reported exposure and TEOAE measures were found, primarily for SNR and reproducibility in the participant group that reported the highest exposure. No consistent differences were observed between long-term (10 years or more) and short-term (5 year or less) use of headphones for music listening or gaming. These findings suggest that self-reported exposure alone may be insufficient to detect subtle cochlear changes in young adults, and underscore the need for more precise exposure-monitoring methods when evaluating recreational sound exposure risks.
ER  -