Normative Ranges for Wideband Middle Ear Reflex Suggest a High Degree of Variability

What is it about?

Measurements of the wideband middle ear muscle reflex, also known as the acoustic reflex, were collected in a large sample of young adults with minimal noise exposure to generate normative ranges. This measurement provides information about middle ear function and has also been proposed as a indicator of cochlear deafferentation, loss of the neural connections between the inner ear and the central auditory system. However, there was a high degree of measurement variability in the normative sample, resulting in very broad normative ranges. This will limit the diagnostic ability of the wideband middle ear muscle reflex because very few people will fall outside the normative range, even if they have a middle ear abnormality or cochlear deafferentation.

Featured Image

Photo by abhijeet gourav on Unsplash

Photo by abhijeet gourav on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This is important because there is currently no means of diagnosing cochlear deafferentation and the wideband middle ear muscle reflex has been suggested as a good candidate diagnostic measure. Unfortunately, the results of this study suggest that the wideband middle ear muscle reflex has limited potential as a diagnostic test for cochlear deafferentation, although it may be useful when used in combination with other test measures.