Acoustic Admittance and the Aging Ear

Abstract

Tympanograms were acquired from 60 subjects, 20 through 79 years of age, with normal hearing and no history of otic pathology. Acoustic conductance and acoustic susceptance at the tympanic membrane (G tm and B tm ) were derived and acoustic admittance (Y tm ) was calculated. Statistical analysis of G tm , B tm and Y tm showed no significant variation in values across age decades. Comparison of these data with previous reports suggests that the effect(s) of age on measures of static acoustic admittance, and presumably acoustic impedance, is complex.