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Auditory brainstem evoked potentials in healthy full-term and pre-term infants
M C Chiang1, Y H Chou, P J Wang
1Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Children's Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Chang Gung Medical Journal
|December 1, 2001
Summary
Auditory brainstem evoked potentials (ABEP) reveal maturational changes in infants. This non-invasive tool effectively evaluates auditory pathways in both full-term and pre-term infants, establishing new reference ranges.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric audiology
- Neurophysiology
- Infant auditory development
Background:
- Auditory brainstem evoked potentials (ABEP) assess auditory pathway integrity.
- Establishing normative ABEP data for Taiwanese infants, particularly pre-term infants, is crucial due to existing performance challenges and lack of reference ranges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the characteristics of ABEP in full-term and pre-term infants.
- To establish reference ranges for ABEP in infants in Taiwan.
Main Methods:
- ABEP was conducted on 40 full-term and 52 pre-term infants at various ages, including corrected age for pre-term infants.
- Acoustic stimulation with rarefaction clicks (70-90 dB HL, decreasing intensity) was used.
- Latency of peaks I, III, V, inter-peak latencies, and thresholds were recorded using surface electrodes.
Main Results:
- In full-term infants, peak and inter-peak latencies decreased with age.
- Pre-term infants showed increasing response rates (53.8% to 100%) and decreasing thresholds with age.
- Significant maturational changes were observed in both groups.
Conclusions:
- ABEP demonstrates maturational changes in auditory pathways in both full-term and pre-term infants post-birth.
- ABEP is a sensitive and non-invasive method for evaluating infant auditory pathways.
- This study provides valuable reference data for Taiwanese infants.