Transient-evoked otoacoustic emission signals predicting outcomes of acute sensorineural hearing loss in patients with Ménière's disease.

Background

Fluctuating hearing loss is characteristic of Ménière's disease (MD) during acute episodes. However, no reliable audiometric hallmarks are available for counselling the hearing recovery possibility.Aims/objectives: To find parameters for predicting MD hearing outcomes.Material and methods: We applied machine learning techniques to analyse transient-evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) signals recorded from patients with MD. Thirty unilateral MD patients were recruited prospectively after onset of acute cochleo-vestibular symptoms. Serial TEOAE and pure-tone audiogram (PTA) data were recorded longitudinally. Denoised TEOAE signals were projected onto the three most prominent principal directions through a linear transformation. Binary classification was performed using a support vector machine (SVM). TEOAE signal parameters, including signal energy and group delay, were compared between improved (PTA improvement: ≥15 dB) and nonimproved groups using Welch's t-test.

Results

Signal energy did not differ (p = .64) but a significant difference in 1-kHz (p = .045) group delay was recorded between improved and nonimproved groups. The SVM achieved a cross-validated accuracy of >80% in predicting hearing outcomes.Conclusions and significance: This study revealed that baseline TEOAE parameters obtained during acute MD episodes, when processed through machine learning technology, may provide information on outer hair cell function to predict hearing recovery.