Otitis media with effusion in children: Cross-frequency correlation in pure tone audiometry.

Different guidelines are adopted in clinics and countries to assess pure tone hearing sensitivity in children with otitis media with effusion (OME). Some guidelines specify a broad range of audiometric frequencies that must be tested and from which average thresholds determined, while others leave test frequencies unspecified. For guidelines that suggest specific frequencies there are various pure tone frequencies and frequency ranges given. The present study investigated whether (1) a full range of audiometric frequencies is required to evaluate hearing loss caused by OME in children, or if neighboring frequencies provide essentially the same threshold information, and (2) if different com…