This study describes a time series-based method of middle ear muscle reflex (MEMR) detection using bilateral clicks. Although many methods can detect changes in the otoacoustic emissions evoking stimulus to monitor the MEMR, they do not discriminate between true MEMR-mediated vs artifactual changes in the stimulus. We measured MEMR in 20 young clinically normal hearing individuals using 1-s-long click trains presented at six levels (65 to 95 dB peak-to-peak sound pressure level in 6 dB steps). Changes in the stimulus levels over the 1 s period were well-approximated by two-term exponential functions. The magnitude of ear canal pressure changes due to MEMR increased monotonically as a function of click level but non-monotonically with frequency when separated into 1/3 octave wide bands between 1 and 3.2 kHz. MEMR thresholds estimated using this method were lower than that obtained from a clinical tympanometer in ∼94% of the participants. A time series-based method, along with statistical tests, may provide additional confidence in detecting the MEMR. MEMR effects were smallest at 2 kHz, between 1 and 3.2 kHz, which may provide avenues for minimizing the MEMR influence while measuring other responses (e.g., the medial olivocochlear reflex).

中文翻译：

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单击诱发的中耳肌肉反射：频谱和时间方面

这项研究描述了使用双边点击的基于时间序列的中耳肌肉反射（MEMR）检测方法。尽管许多方法可以检测引起刺激的耳声发射变化以监测MEMR，但它们并不能区分MEMR介导的真实变化与刺激的人为变化之间的区别。我们使用1-s-长点击序列以六个级别（65至95 dB峰峰值声压级，以6 dB步长）显示了20位临床上正常的年轻听力个体的MEMR。1 s周期内刺激水平的变化被两项指数函数很好地逼近了。当分成1至3.2 kHz之间的1/3倍频程宽带时，由于MEMR引起的耳道压力变化幅度随点击水平而单调增加，但随频率非单调增加。使用此方法估算的MEMR阈值低于约94％的参与者从临床鼓室图获得的阈值。基于时间序列的方法以及统计测试可以为检测MEMR提供额外的信心。MEMR的影响在2 kHz处（介于1和3.2 kHz之间）最小，这可能为在测量其他响应（例如内侧小腱反射）时将MEMR影响最小化提供了途径。