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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/72384
Description
Title
Heritability of Spontaneous Otoacoustic Emissions
Author(s)
Russell, Ann Faith
Issue Date
1992
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Bilger, Robert C.
Department of Study
Speech and Hearing Science
Discipline
Speech and Hearing Science
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Health Sciences, Audiology
Biology, Genetics
Abstract
Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOEs) are narrow-band signals emitted from the cochlea and measured in the ear canal with a sensitive microphone. Because these emissions are correlated with sex and because sex is genetically determined, Bilger et al. (1990) hypothesized that SOEs were inherited. This twin study was planned to pursue their idea. A total of 60 sets of twins with essentially normal hearing were examined for SOEs to determine whether they were inherited. There were 30 sets of monozygotic (MZ) and 30 sets of same-sex, dizygotic (DZ) twins with an equal number of female and male twins in each twin group. Their ages ranged from 5 years 7 months to 40 years 5 months. Zygosity was determined by means of a questionnaire (Lykken et al., 1990).
A 60-s recording from both ears of each subject was led to an IBM-compatible computer and stored on the hard drive for later off-line analysis with Hypersignal software and supplemental, C-language programs. As a result, data acquisition and data analysis were independent.
The prevalence of SOEs among these twins was found to be P =.73. The majority had SOEs in both ears. In addition, the average number of multiple SOEs in each ear was higher than previously reported for males and females. Finally, the SOE profiles of the MZ twins were strikingly similar, whereas those for the DZ twins were different.
The intraclass correlation coefficients for the MZ twins were consistently higher than those for the DZ twins, indicating a strong genetic component. The heritability indices indicated that these emissions are a highly heritable trait. Further, the tendency to have SOEs in both ears appears to be genetically determined as does the number of SOEs in each ear. The implications of these findings were discussed.
Finally, each subject completed a lateral preference questionnaire (Porac & Coran, 1981) to determine whether handedness, footedness, eyedness, earedness, or overall congruency were predictors of SOEs. Results indicated that none of these factors were successful predictors of the presence of SOEs.
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