Online database of published wideband acoustic immittance (WAI) measurements

Description

Abstract

The only public-facing database of published WAI measurements has been designed, constructed, and deployed.  The database has evolved over the past nine years and now includes ears of all ages, both normal and abnormal ears, and ear canals in both ambient and pressurized conditions.  The database is implemented in MySQL, is hosted on a server at Smith College, and can be accessed via a corresponding website (doi.org/10.35482/egr.001.2022).  Anyone can access the database and researchers are encouraged to submit published data for inclusion in the database; the website includes directions to submit and download data, code books for all data columns, and a Shiny Web Application to allow for real-time dynamic exploration of the data.  The database contains nearly 5 million rows of WAI data from 43 publications that total 12,644 ears with labeled hearing status from 8,697 unique subjects.  About 91% of these data come from normal-hearing ears with the remaining 9% coming primarily from ears with middle-ear fluid but also from ears with a range of abnormalities including 128 ears with stapes fixation.  Details about the content and structure of the database and a certification process that confirms that all database rows match their respective publication will be described.  Researchers can utilize the database for many reasons, including complementing the new NIH data sharing requirements, comparing new data to previously published data, comparing WAI measurements across different measurement equipment and ear conditions, and downloading data to inform future modeling and machine-learning efforts.