We are currently running an NIH-sponsored study of hearing and hearing loss and we invite your participation. The test session will be on average roughly 2 hrs long but sometimes takes a little longer.
Our study records soft sounds from the ear with a comfortable ear bud that contains a microphone. This might sound odd to you but the ear does indeed make sound! In the process of “hearing” and sending the message up to the brain for interpretation, the ear creates its own sounds and they travel back into the ear canal where we measure them with this ear bud. These are called otoacoustic emissions (OAES). They are absolutely non-invasive to measure and the test requires no response from the participant.
Currently OAEs are measured in hearing clinics and hospitals to screen for or detect hearing loss. However, in this study we are more interested in learning about and characterizing hearing loss, not just detecting it. And those of you with normal-hearing serve as a reference against which to compare OAE results from individuals with hearing loss. We are trying to develop a more comprehensive test of OAEs to understand the origin of specific hearing losses and to distinguish between hearing losses that are similar in some ways but differ in their underlying cause or in the pathology that produced the impairment.
If you participate, you will be asked to sit quietly (in an almost meditative state so as to minimize environmental noise) and an ear bud fit to your ear canal will present sounds. Your job is just to sit as still and calmly as possible while we record the sounds that come from your ears in response to the sounds we present. We will also do hearing tests and a test of middle- ear function to see how your eardrum is moving.
Parking is provided and you will be reimbursed $20 for a 2-hr test session; $10/hr if the test requires additional time.
If you are interested in this study and would like to participate, please contact us!
The Principal Investigators of this study are Carolina Abdala, PhD and Christopher Shera, PhD, Professors of Otolaryngology, USC Keck School of Medicine [IRB HS-13-00699].