Contents of this section: Our Personal Reflections



The continuous evolvement of web-content makes very difficult the tracing of sites containing relevant Otoacoustic Emission information. Considering the latest advances in Otoacoustic Emission technologies and clinical applications we have decided to FOCUS and COLLECT the available OAE information in a single web-entity. Our group has been an active participant in the web-related information services for the last three years. We have administered the site and the database server of the Concerted Action HEAR (as well as for the new CA project GENDEAF) and we are running one of the most visited European Audiology sites.


There are several innovations which we propose in this site.


  • First, according to our experience the global OAE community needs educational material ranging from the latest technological trends to the very basic foundations of the OAEs. The educational material in this PORTAL is divided into two categories. In the first category you can find broad-interest lectures in a PowerPoint presentation format, that is the topic of the lecture is presented in a number of pages (usually 30). The second category contains white papers which treat a specific OAE topic in a few pages.


    • Within this educational context, we are evaluating also the possibility of creating a FORUM-space dedicated to all students and professionals of OAEs, where everyone can post a question and wait for an expert to give him/her an answer.

    • A monothematic portal faces often a number of technical difficulties such as the wide dissemination of information. With today's modem technology it is difficult or time-consuming to download large amounts of multimedia information (such as videos and full PowerPoint lectures). In this context, we are evaluating the possibility to create a low-cost CD-rom (on an annual basis, i.e OAE Portal vol 1 2001,... vol 2 2002, etc) containing the information present in this web site.


    • We invite all interested parties to send us a contribution on OAE-related topics which can been shared the rest of the scientific community. The contribution can be a review on a particular hardware apparatus or software package or a PowerPoint presentation on a topic which can be shared with the rest of the scientific OAE community. Every contribution will get through a sort of "peer-review process" to ensure the validity of the material. For more information on this issue click here.


    • We all know that for funding reasons (grants) our scientific and clinical world is very competitive. Contrary to this, the OAE PORTAL site supports the free spirit of INTERNET. All information you may find here is free and you can download it as you please. We only ask you to give credit to the people who have contributed to this site. To promote even better the notion of free OAE information, we hope to convince various key figures in the OAE field to share with us (guest editorials) their vision about the status of the OAEs in the present and in the future.


  • Second, considering the limited funding available to the scientific structures for a web-related activity, such as a web portal, we invite ALL OAE (and related fields) equipment manufacturers to sponsor this site. This is an equal opportunity process addressed to ALL interested parties. For more information on this issue click here.




      Me and my collaborators hope that you will find the contents of this site interesting and useful and that with your contribution this site will evolve into a true PORTAL.



Stavros Hatzopoulos Ph.D.
OAE Portal Web Editor




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