Measuring the suppression of OAE amplitude as an index of the MOC system function has developed clinically. Various populations have been tested with OAE suppression techniques with similar results.
Patients with cochlear hearing loss yield data that are difficult to interpret because most of these individuals unless the hearing loss is very mild, do not have measurable OAEs.
When suppressive effects are measured in subjects with mild hearing loss, the amount of suppression is typically reduced (see Hood, 2002).
This finding may or may not be related to the dysfunction of the MOC bundle. That is, the reduced suppression might be associated with the fact that the OAE amplitudes in individuals with mild hearing loss are reduced, to begin with, hence, proportionately the amount suppression may be reduced and thus it becomes more difficult to document the effects in these patients.
