Comparative study of acoustic immittance in smokers and non-smokers

Abstract

PURPOSE:  to conduct a comparative study of the acoustic impedance measurements in smokers and nonsmokers, in order to identify the occurrence of specific behavior in the smoking population.

METHODS:   in a sample of 80 individuals, namely 40 smokers and 40 nonsmokers, we obtained the outer acoustic meatus volume, the admittance, the peak pressure and the gradient.

RESULTS:  the results showed that the peak pressure presented a significant difference between the groups, revealing itself more negative in the group of smokers, both for the right ear (p=0.004) and for the left ear (p=0.011).

CONCLUSION  This study concludes that the peak pressure of the tympanogram is an immittance measure able to differentiate smokers and nonsmokers, where smokers show significantly more negative pressures.

Hearing; Smoking; Acoustic Immittance Tests