Influence of primary-level and primary-frequency ratios on human distortion product otoacoustic emissions.

The combined influence of primary-level differences (L1-L2) and primary-frequency ratio (f2/f1) on distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) level was investigated in 20 normal-hearing subjects. DPOAEs were recorded with continuously varying stimulus levels [Neely et al. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 1248-1259 (2005)] for the following stimulus conditions: f2= 1, 2, 4, and 8 kHz and f2/f1=1.05 to 1.4; various L1-L2, including one individually optimized to produce the largest DPOAE. For broadly spaced primary frequencies at low L2 levels, the largest DPOAEs were recorded when L1 was much higher than L2, with L1 remaining relatively constant as L2 increased. As f2/fl decreased, the largest DPOAEs were observed when L1 was closer to L2 and increased as L2 increased. Optimal values for L1-L2 and f2 f1 were derived from these data. In general, average DPOAE levels for the new L1-L2 and f2/f1 were equivalent to or larger than those observed for other stimulus combinations, including the L1-L2 described by Kummer et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 103, 3431-3444 (1998)] and those defined by Neely et al. in which L1-L2 was evaluated, but f2/f1 was fixed at 1.2.