Distortion product otoacoustic emissions in normal-hearing children with homozygous sickle cell disease

The purpose of this study was to investigate distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) in young normal-hearing children with sickle cell disea se (SCD). It was hypothesized that the prevalence of DPOAEs and response am plitudes would be lower than those in children with normal hemoglobin due t o suspected compromised cochlear function as a result of vaso-occlusive eve nts characteristic of SCD. Twenty African-American children with SCD and 15 African-American children with normal hemoglobin participated. Distortion product OAEs were evoked by 13 primary tone pairs with f(2) frequencies ran ging from 1000 to 4500 Hz. The primary tones were presented at L-1 and L-2 levels of 70 and 60 dB SPL (high) and 50 and 40 dB SPL (low), respectively. The findings of this study were completely unexpected and contrary to our original hypotheses. The likelihood of detecting a DPOAE response was not r elated to the clinical status of the children. Distortion product OAE ampli tudes were significantly larger for children with SCD (p = .01). (C) 2000 b y Elsevier Science Inc.