DISEASE PAGE

Ménière's Disease / Endolymphatic Hydrops

Variable, fluctuating emissions — a sensitive monitor during the glycerol test.

The OAE signature

  • Emissions are variable and fluctuate with disease state, paralleling the characteristic low-frequency, fluctuating hearing loss.[5]
  • DPOAEs are sensitive enough to track cochlear change during the glycerol dehydration test, complementing pure-tone audiometry.[3]
0 ms20 ms
— Normal ear— Ménière's Disease / Endolymphatic Hydrops
Simulated TEOAE comparison. Educational signal model — not recorded patient data.

Audiogram companion

The pure-tone audiogram below accompanies the OAE signature. Reading the two together — what the threshold shows and what the emission shows — is the core diagnostic skill.

0204060801002505001k2k4k8kFrequency (Hz)
○ Right — PTA 33 dB (Mild)✕ Left — PTA 38 dB (Mild)
Pure-tone audiogram companion. dB HL increases downward, following clinical convention. Illustrative thresholds — not recorded patient data.

Why the emission looks this way

  • Endolymphatic hydrops alters the mechanical environment of the cochlear partition, modulating outer hair cell function and hence emission amplitude in step with hydrops severity.[2]

TEACHING POINT

Because emissions fluctuate with the disease, a single OAE is a snapshot — serial measurement is what makes it informative in Ménière's.[3]

Sources for this page are listed on the References page. Browse all condition patterns from the atlas home.