Undergraduate Honors Thesis
Assessment of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission Differences in Black and White Adults Public Deposited
- Abstract
Hearing loss and hearing levels have been extensively studied, especially surrounding
factors of age and sex. Race has a known influence on hearing loss, however, race has largely
been studied through subjective behavioral hearing assessments which can be influenced by
response bias. We aimed to fill this gap in research by using an objective hearing measurement
to investigate differences in hearing ability between different racial populations. To do this, we
used distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), which are objective and clinically
comprehensive as they measure cochlear function through the evoked stimulus of outer hair cells
in the cochlea. The goal of this thesis was to explore whether there were observable differences
in DPOAEs between Black and White populations. We did this by collecting and analyzing
DPOAEs from an age-sex matched Black and White paired sample. We observed a difference in
DPOAE level between the Black and White pair as the Black pair had higher DPOAEs in both
ears, with a larger difference at low frequencies. Identifying this difference is necessary to
address socioeconomic disparities in hearing loss and continued hearing health education and
interventions.
- Creator
- Date Awarded
- 2024-04-04
- Academic Affiliation
- Advisor
- Committee Member
- Granting Institution
- Subject
- Last Modified
- 2024-04-18
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Mumford_Grace_Final_Thesis_Copy.pdf | 2024-04-15 | Public | Download |