Characterization of DPOAE fine structure

The distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) fine structure is revealed, when measuring DPOAE with a very fine frequency resolution. It is characterized by consistent maxima and minima with notches of up to 20 dB depth. The fine structure is known also from absolute hearing thresholds, and has recently been demonstrated to exist in low level equal-loudness contours. The character of the DPOAE fine structure depends on several parameters, i.e., level, frequencies, and frequency of the two primaries, but also level and character of the noise floor. The prevalence and character of the fine structures are highly individual, and till now no standardized method has been suggested for a consistent categorization. In the present paper a method developed for the categorization of fine structures is presented. The method has been used in two previous studies on the prevalence of fine structures, 1) for young normal hearing subjects, and 2) normal hearing orchestra musicians before and after rehearsal.