introduction: the facial nucleus and olivar nucleus are connected with fibers, then a lesion in this conection could interfer in the outer cell function changing the result of otoacoustic emission product distortion test (dpoe). objective: to observe the possibility of bell's palsy affect the function of outer hair cells, using the dpoe test. study design: prospective clinical. material and method: forty patients with bell's palsy were compared with 69 patients without symptons (control group) using dpoe. results: the patients with bell's palsy without dpoe response were 17.5% and in the control group, 7.2%, without statistical difference between them. we did not observe a correlation with stapedium reflex and degree of palsy and dpoe. conclusion: there was no correlation with bell's palsy and dpoe.
