Interactive Teaching Atlas

Otoacoustic Emissions

A self-contained, interactive guide to the cochlea's own faint echo — what it is, how we record it, how to read it, and what it tells us across the diseases of hearing. Built for students, trainees and clinicians.

Otoacoustic emissions are low-level sounds generated within the cochlea, transmitted out through the middle ear and recorded with a sensitive microphone in the ear canal — an objective, non-invasive window into outer-hair-cell function. New here? Begin with Anatomy & Physiology, then work through Types, Technique, Normal Responses, Interpretation and Screening. Use the reader-level selector in the sidebar to pitch every explanation at Foundation, Trainee or Clinician depth.

Explore the atlas

Start here

Anatomy & Physiology

From the ear canal to the organ of Corti — outer hair cells, the cochlear amplifier and the medial olivocochlear efferent system.

The Atlas

OAE Types & Mechanisms

Spontaneous and evoked emissions, the transient and distortion-product families, and the two source mechanisms behind them.

The Atlas

Instrumentation & Technique

Probe fit, stimulus choice, the recording chain, artefact rejection and the SNR criterion behind a clean response.

The Atlas

Normal Responses

What a healthy TEOAE and DP-gram look like — amplitude, latency, noise floor and the normal-ear reference picture.

The Atlas

Interpretation & Pitfalls

What a present, reduced or absent emission means, the cross-check with ABR, and the traps that produce false refers and false passes.

The Atlas

Newborn Screening

OAEs in early hearing detection — the screening timeline, pass/refer logic and the place of OAEs in the EHDI pathway.

Interactive

TEOAE Simulator

Drive a TEOAE trace and its signal-to-noise verdict by adjusting each ear's parameters.

Interactive

Compare Signatures

Place any two OAE signatures side by side, or overlaid against a normal reference.

Interactive

Clinical Cases

Eight worked cases — read the vignette and findings, commit to an answer, then check your reasoning.

Interactive

Pattern Trainer

An endless stream of generated TEOAE traces to read and grade against the archetype.

Interactive

Self-Assessment

Single-best-answer question bank with browse, spaced-repetition and timed modes.

Reference

Glossary

Concise definitions of the key terms in otoacoustic emissions, with aliases and cross-links.

Reference

References

The peer-reviewed and authoritative sources behind every claim in the atlas.

The conditions

Each condition page pairs the characteristic OAE signature with its audiogram companion, the mechanism behind the emission, and the single teaching point to carry away.