Measurement of otoacoustic emissions for hearing assessment

The present report describes the development of hardware and software for the clinical application of otoacoustic emissions (OAEs). This development is driven by the need to quickly, inexpensively, and reliably detect and measure the properties of these small acoustic signals, across a range of audio frequencies, in background noise that is often greater than the evoked sound. However, before exploring the techniques used to measure OAEs, the authors briefly explain the nature of these responses and their clinical significance, which forms the motivation for the development of biomedical instrumentation for their measurement.<>