Separation Anxiety: DPOAE Components Refuse to be Apart

In two papers, (Dhar &  Shaffer, 2004; Shaffer &  Dhar, 2006) have explored the possibility of improving the prediction of behavioral hearing thresholds from distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) level. DPOAEs are sounds generated in the cochlea (Kemp, 1979) that can be recorded in the ear canal using appropriate recording and analysis equipment. When a normally functioning cochlea is stimulated simultaneously with two pure tones, say at frequencies f1 and f2 (f1 < f2), the cochlea generates energy at various other frequencies related to those of the stimulus tones. The DPOAE produced at the frequency 2f1-f2 is commonly used for clinical purposes as it is easily recorded from human ears under certain stimulus conditions. DPOAEs at frequencies lower than those of the stimulus tones, such as that at the frequency 2f1-f2, can be called “apical” DPOAEs as the tonotopic organization of the basilar membrane dictates that their characteristic frequency place lies apical to that of the stimulus tones.

            ... to read the rest of the GUEST editorial

CV of the guest Editor

Sumit Dhar has a Ph.D. in Hearing Science with concentration in Neuroscience from Purdue University. Prior to obtaining his Ph.D., Dhar studied Audiology at the University of Mumbai, India and Utah State University and worked as a clinician and clinic manager. Dhar is currently an Associate Professor in the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA. The principal focus of Dhar's research program is on mechanisms and applications of otoacoustic emissions. This work is currently supported by the National Institutes of Health, USA.

This section contains the material which will be available on line in the near future. The lists are divided into Editorials, PowerPoint lectures and white papers.

This area is reserved for announcements on meetings , workshops or seminars exclusively on OAEs. The meetings can be national (i.e. in languages other than English).

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One of the services we have considered offering to the OAE community is the possibility to download multimedia material related to OAEs. The biggest problem which we have to resolved, is the size of these files (many MBs) which make their downloading almost impossible with the common modem 56K connections.
       Nevertheless the size of a multimedia file can be significantly reduced using the newest video compression technologies (DivX, 3ivx etc) . In order to view the compressed videos you have to download and install FIRST, the necessary decoding software. A variety of free programs is available to you at the multimedia player and decoder page.

If you want to know what well-known peer-reviewed journals are saying about the OAE Portal you might consult the following pages :

• Ear and Hearing (February 2002)



• ACTA-Laryngologica-Stoch-(September 2002, vol. 122, pag 688)



• Audiology Today, (May-June 2003, pag.58). Large image (320k) from the article Small image (120k) from the article.
  
  
• Audiology Today, (November -December 2004, , pag.46).
   
• ENTNews (September -October 2003, Number 4, Volume 12). To download the pdf scan of the article click here.
  
  

We have created this section in order to get your direct INPUT regarding the contents of the Portal. So ...

• if you have tried to find information on a topic and you were unsuccessful;
  
  
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As some of you might have realized (during the last 24 months), the Portal material was initially design as a cybernetic book, containing various chapters on topics of interest.
       Since our initial debut date in 2001 the educational material has been enhanced considerably with editorials, white papers and on-line powerpoint presentations (which we are gradually converting to pdf).
         In the last 12 months numerous users have contacted us with requests of specific topics which were present in the Portal !! To answer better and more efficiently these requests we have designed the following INDEXed page, following our initial chapter design.

you can access the INTEX by clicking    here.

• The WordPress designing phase is on -time and most probably the platform model should be ready by the end of this month.
• The Question is : Should we post the available material as soon as possibl, or should we wait for the whole site to be translated into the new medium ? Here we would appreciate your feedback, so please if you want to contribute to our decision process, send us a message or post something in the Forum.
  
  

• The re-design process of the Portal 2 is almost over, there are possibilities to work only on the WordPress platform to improve the SEARCH of every term in all Portal pages, but this might require additional coding time. Nevertheless the new structure is defined like this : images_2012/preview_P2.jpg
  
  

• The program for the face-lifting of the site is on schedule but we are facing delays with material related to our sponsors, therefore a relistic date for the "revamped" material should be in early January 2013. If you have a COMMENT to make on something you would like to see in the new site please tell us , or leave a message in the FORUM area.
  
  

• There is an announcement for the International Conference on Neonatal Screening, thic coming November : The invitation text goes like this :
  
  In Europe, approximately 5 million newborns are screened yearly based on the drawing of a drop of blood from an infant's heel or from a dorsal hand vein. European policies around newborn screening are challenges by various policy controversies, including questions to what degree newborn screening panels should be expanded, to what degree informed consent of parents should be obtained, how carrier status results should managed, and how storage and research use should be dealt with.
  
     Continuing on the experiences of various projects, the University of Leuven (Belgium) and the VU University Medical Centre Amsterdam (The Netherlands) are organizing on 19 November 2012 the international conference 'Newborn Screening: Challenges for Europe' in Brussels.
  A flyer on the conference is available on following website:
  http://med.kuleuven.be/Faculteit_Geneeskunde/english/borders/erasmus-mundus-bioethics/documents/flyer-def-1.pdf
  The conference has received the kind support of the Flemish Agency for Care and Health (Flanders, Belgium) and the Centre for Genomics and the Life Sciences (the Netherlands).
  Participation is free, but registration is required before 12 November through following website:
  ttp://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1005395/Newborn-Screening-conference-Monday-19-November-2012
  We are looking forward to meet you in Brussels in November.
  Kind regards,
  
  Prof. Pascal Borry (University of Leuven)
  Prof. Martina Cornel (VU University Medical Center Amsterdam)
  

• This year the OAE Portal celebrates 11 years of life and the time has come for a "Face-Lift" process. Due to the generous support of our sponsors the Face-Lifting of the OAE material will take place from September 1rst to November 15th 2012. The idea is to generate pages easy to read (see an example with the the WordPress platform) , compatible with the latest mobile devices (Ipad and other tablets) and above all easy to locate the desired content.
         Some sections such as the multimedia drivers and programs will be eliminated as they have become absolete and ALL the on-line powerpoint material will be converted to pdf files.
  
  

• Suprisingly, one of the less visited pages is the one related to MEDLINE papers and journal impact factors . In the past the ISI institute had prohibited us using their data, despite the fact that at the time the Portal was located in the mainframe of Ferrara University, one of their clients. The last 4 years we have received a number of requests regarding the journal impact factors and finally we can prespond positively to this request. This is the link for the 2012 rankings (2011 material) .
  
  

• The OAE software pages were updated with OAE-database material.
  
  

• The OAE hardware pages have been updated (PART 3 of the 3 scheduled updates) . There is new information about the Neurosoft company manufacturers of the Neuro Audio Screener and the Neuro Audio clinical platform. Updates are also present in the OAE software pages.
  
  

• The OAE hardware pages and those of our sponsors have been updated (PART 2 of the 3 scheduled updates) . You can now find information on the Advanced vesion of the Sentiero device by Path Medical. The new lightweight unit combines Tone & Speech Audiometry, TEOAE, DPOAE & AEP/ABR in a single device.
  
  

• It is our pleasure to welcome Mercury -Otometrics as a sponsor to the Portal. Mercury-Otometrics is a European company specializing in various hearing solutions, and they are the manufacturers and distributors of the succesful AccuScreen device.
  
  

• The OAE hardware pages and those of our sponsors have been updated (PART 1 of the 3 scheduled updates) .
  
  

• Some interesting news from our "hosting country" Italy. From January 1, 2012 all Regions should engage in NHS or EDHI programs. This is a very big responsibility for the majority of hospital administrations, specialy due to the fact that this requirement is based on a ZERO Budget. New information-technology tools have to be created or applied, so that the screening information becomes available to various agencies, but such important "details" have not been considered yet. More information on this issue in the months to come .
  
  

• The OAE hardware pages and those of our sponsors have been updated.
  
  

• It is our pleasure to welcome PathMedical Solutions as a sponsor to the Portal. Path Medical Solutions is a European company specializing in hearing Screening solutions, and they are the brains behind the succesful AccuScreen device. Currently the company has moved from NHS to children hearing screening with a number of interesting devices, such as the Sentiero (2.5 M document).
  
  

• We are in the process of updating the OAE hardware pages and those of our sponsors.
  
  

• We have started compiling the annual access statistics for the Portal and for the first time a new pattern has emerged. We are having a significant number of visitors from countries with emerging neonatal hearing screening programs. As a result the pages dedicated to the Basics of OAEs are more requested. Interestically there is a significant higher request for DPOAEs than TEOAEs and this could indicate that we need to include additional material in the DP -area. The statistics will be up-loaded in the first quarter of 2011.
  
  

• The future highlights page has been updated with material up to December 2010.
  
  

• Using the summer break period we have re-organized a number of technological sessions and have updated the future highlights session
  
  

• Using the summer break period we have re-organized a number of sessions (TEOAEs, SOAEs, NHS)
  
  

• The sponsor and OAE-hardware pages were updated with the latest information on platforms performing OAE & AABR screening.
  
  

• The future highlights page has been updated with material up to July 2009.
  
  

• The sponsor and OAE-hardware pages were updated with the latest information on portable OAE screeners.