We use the biologic Scout OAE system and have a question regarding hitting "ignore" with DPs if you cannot get the system to calibrate. We often get this on kids with PE tubes so it's NOT placement. Therefore we hit "ignore" and run the test. We have assumed that if the response is present then it truly is present regardless of the stimulus calibration. If however it is absent it could be from hearing loss or presence of PE tubes/calibration. So we typically assume if the response is absent we can't make a big statement about this b/c it might be due to inability to calibrate. But if the resposne IS present even if it did not calibrate adequately, can we say that the response is truly present and interpret as we normally do with present OAEs? Are there any documents I could reference?
Thank you.

Now a proper "DP calibration" guarantees the amplitude of the cubic DPOAE response (2F1-F2). Lack of proper calibration for whatever reason ( the sealing of the external meatus is the most common problem) does not imply that the DPOAE response is not valid. A response is always a response. The problem we have is that without a correct calibration we don't know what evaluation criteria to use ... that is if we record a 2 dB SPL response at 2 kHz .. this would be below the expected normative value .. and the software would consider it as a FAIL response. Of course if you get values higher that the normative ones .. then you will see a PASS. I would doubt that you would observe this at all testing points ..improper stimulus calibration affects primarily the amplitudes of the 2.0 and 3.0 testing frequencies. So the issue boils down not on the presence or not of a DPOAE response, but on the evaluation parameters for such a response.

If I record well Seagel (Sigel ??) had a paper on DPOAE calibration back in 1990 or 1995. Do a MEDLINE check on DPOAE calibration and I am sure that you will find useful material.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Update note :

Ericka .. a good idea could be to make your own stats and norms .. ie take 30-40 cases with tubes and estimate the TEOAE signal (not S/N) distribution (histogram) at various bands (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 kHz) .

The mean signal value of each frequency could be a good way to evaluate other patients .. A "good way" is not always optimal .. but it is MUCH better than guessing !!!!