CHANGES IN OTOACOUSTIC EMISSIONS IN A TRANSSEXUAL MALE DURING TREATMENT WITH ESTROGEN

Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) were monitored in two human males undergo ing estrogen treatment prior to sex-reversal surgery. In one subject, multiple spontaneous emissions (SOAEs) appeared where none had been ev ident previously. One reasonable interpretation is that (in this male, at least) androgens normally produced a suppressive effect on the coc hlear mechanisms responsible for SOAEs, and that the decline in androg en levels produced by the estrogenic drug led to a reduction in that s uppression. (C) 1998 Acoustical Society of America. [S0001-4966(98)032 09-3]