However, the traditional clinical exam, which uses a single, low-frequency 226 hertz tone to gauge the ear's health, doesn't always offer the whole picture. This test might show that a patient has no acoustic reflex. That could lead to a more accurate diagnosis of and treatment for the patient's problem. A patient complaining of a middle ear problem might have a normal reading using conventional tests, but using wide-band reflectance could confirm the disorder at higher frequencies than detected through the traditional tympanogram exam. The wide-band reflectance technique, developed by Douglas Keefe of the Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Neb., uses a series of eight chirping sounds emitted into the ear canal to determine how well the middle ear reacts to sounds that span the human speech range.
Computer software analyzes the data, graphing the middle ear's performance.
The procedure takes only a few seconds. In the recent study, Feeney used wide-band reflectance to trigger a middle ear reaction an average 10.9 decibels lower than the traditional clinical method. Though Keefe developed the wide-band reflectance method in 1992, research into its clinical applications is still under way. Feeney is using the technique to study patients with otitis media, or middle ear infections, and to determine what impact aging has on the middle ear. Feeney holds an appointment in the College of Health and Human Services.