Standard and Multifrequency Tympanometric Norms for Caucasian and Chinese Young Adults
Bibliographic record
Abstract
In Brief Objective: This study examined differences between a group of normal-hearing Caucasian and Chinese young adults on six tympanometric parameters. The goal of this study was to determine if the Chinese group had different low and multifrequency tympanometry results than the Caucasian group. Design: There were a total of 159 subjects (303 ears) between the ages of 18 and 34 years, with 76 subjects in the Caucasian group and 83 subjects in the Chinese group. Tympanometric data were gathered on a clinical immittance machine, the Virtual 310 equipped with a high frequency option. Four of the parameters—static admittance (SA), tympanometric width (TW), tympanometric peak pressure (TPP), and ear-canal volume (ECV)—were measured automatically at a standard 226 Hz frequency. The remaining two parameters—resonant frequency (RF) and SA up to 1200 Hz—were measured by multifrequency, multicomponent tympanometry, using a mathematical approach. Results: The Chinese group had significantly lower SA, wider TW, more positive TPP, and lower ECV than their Caucasian counterparts. The parameter of SA up to 1200 Hz showed a significant group effect (Caucasian versus Chinese) until 900 Hz in the male group and up to 1120 Hz in the female group. The Chinese group had significantly higher RF than the Caucasian group. Once the effect of body size was compensated by adjusting for the ear canal and the middle ear volumes, the differences observed between the Caucasian and the Chinese groups were no longer significant for tympanometric parameters obtained at standard probe tone frequency of 226 Hz; however, the effect was still significant for SA obtained at higher probe tone frequencies (560, 630, 710, 800, and 900 Hz) and for RF. Applying the Caucasian norms to a group of mainly Caucasian adults with surgically confirmed otosclerosis resulted in improved overall test performance when compared with the combined Caucasian and Chinese norms and the Chinese only norms. Conclusions: It seems that the body size plays a crucial factor in the observed differences between the Caucasian group and Chinese groups at a standard probe tone frequency of 226 Hz; however, other mechano-acoustical properties of the middle ear may contribute to these differences at higher probe tone frequencies. Findings of this study suggest that further research is needed to investigate the effects of body size on immittance measures with other ethnic groups. In the meantime, overall test performance may be improved by using a more homogenous norm when testing the Caucasian or Chinese individuals. This paper investigates the effect of anatomical differences, especially the body size, between Caucasian and Chinese Young Adults on standard and multifrequency tympanometry. Tympanograms from individuals of different ethnic backgrounds are currently being assessed based on Caucasian norms (or norms of an unspecified origin). This paper has shown that the Chinese group had significantly different standard and multifrequency tympanometric parameters than their Caucasian counterparts. Once the effect of body size was compensated by adjusting for the ear canal and the middle ear volumes, the differences observed between the Caucasian and the Chinese groups were no longer significant at the standard probe tone frequency of 226 Hz. Applying the Caucasian norms to a group of mainly Caucasian adults with surgically confirmed otosclerosis, resulted in improved overall test performance. Overall test performance may be improved by using a more homogenous norm when testing the Caucasian or Chinese individuals.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".