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Aarhus, L., Tambs, K., Kvestad, E., & Engdahl, B. (2015). Childhood Otitis Media: A Cohort Study With 30-Year Follow-Up of Hearing (The HUNT Study). Ear and hearing, 36(3), 302–308.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To study the extent to which otitis media (OM) in childhood is associated with adult hearing thresholds. Furthermore, to study whether the effects of OM on adult hearing thresholds are moderated by age or noise exposure. DESIGN: Population-based cohort study of 32,786 participants who had their hearing tested by pure-tone audiometry in primary school and again at ages ranging from 20 to 56 years. Three thousand sixty-six children were diagnosed with hearing loss; the remaining sample had normal childhood hearing. RESULTS: Compared with participants with normal childhood hearing, those diagnosed with childhood hearing loss caused by otitis media with effusion (n = 1255), chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM; n = 108), or hearing loss after recurrent acute otitis media (rAOM; n = 613) had significantly increased adult hearing thresholds in the whole frequency range (2 dB/17-20 dB/7-10 dB, respectively). The effects were adjusted for age, sex, and noise exposure. Children diagnosed with hearing loss after rAOM had somewhat improved hearing thresholds as adults. The effects of CSOM and hearing loss after rAOM on adult hearing thresholds were larger in participants tested in middle adulthood (ages 40 to 56 years) than in those tested in young adulthood (ages 20 to 40 years). Eardrum pathology added a marginally increased risk of adult hearing loss (1-3 dB) in children with otitis media with effusion or hearing loss after rAOM. The study could not reveal significant differences in the effect of self-reported noise exposure on adult hearing thresholds between the groups with OM and the group with normal childhood hearing. CONCLUSIONS: This cohort study indicates that CSOM and rAOM in childhood are associated with adult hearing loss, underlining the importance of optimal treatment in these conditions. It appears that ears with a subsequent hearing loss after OM in childhood age at a faster rate than those without; however this should be confirmed by studies with several follow-up tests through adulthood.
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Engdahl, B., Tambs, K., & Hoffman, H. J. (2013). Otoacoustic emissions, pure-tone audiometry, and self-reported hearing. Int J Audiol, 52(2), 74–82.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to describe the association between otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), pure-tone thresholds, and self-reported hearing disability. DESIGN: A population-based cohort of 4202 adults was examined with air conduction pure-tone audiometry, transient OAE (TEOAE), and distortion product OAE (DPOAE). Participants completed 15 self-report items on hearing disability. RESULTS: Correlation coefficients in the range of 0.3 to 0.5 were observed between OAE (TEOAE, and DPOAE) and self-reported hearing depending on age and sex. Pure-tone average hearing thresholds generally predicted self-reported hearing slightly better than did the OAE measures. Adding TEOAE and DPOAE as predictors in a multivariate model together with the scores from pure-tone audiometry did not predict self-reported hearing better than did pure-tone audiometry alone. The relationship between OAE and self-reported hearing was stronger in men than in women and became more manifest with age, a trend also stronger in men. CONCLUSIONS: OAEs were shown to be a valid measure of self-reported hearing disability of the general population but added no additional information to what pure-tone hearing thresholds had already captured.
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