Detection of Hearing Loss in Audiological Frequencies from Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions

Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) have been analyzed for objective assessment of hearing function and monitoring of the influence of noise exposure and ototoxic drugs. This paper presents a novel application of the Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT) for detection and time-frequency mapping of TEOAEs. Since the HHT does not distinguish between signal and noise, it is combined with ensemble correlation in order to extract signal information in intervals with correlated activity. High resolution time-frequency mapping could predict 30 dBHL, or higher hearing loss, at different audiological frequencies in 63–90% of the cases and normal hearing in 75–90% of the cases. The proposed method offers TEOAE time-frequency mapping by constraining the analysis to regions with high signal-to-noise ratios. The results suggest that the HHT is suitable for hearing loss detection at individual frequencies and characterization of the fine structures of TEOAEs.