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Updated: Aug 18, 2026
Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Auditory steady-state responses in infants with perinatal brain injury
Efraín Santiago-Rodríguez1, Thalía Harmony, Mario Bernardino
1Instituto de Neurobiología, Campus UNAM-UAQ Juriquilla, Querétaro, México.
Insights
Hearing loss is common in infants with perinatal brain injury. Auditory steady-state responses effectively detect hearing impairment, especially mild cases, offering high sensitivity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Audiology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Perinatal brain injury in infants can lead to impairments in motor, visual, auditory, and cognitive functions.
- Auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and otoacoustic emissions are key methods for detecting auditory alterations.
- Auditory steady-state responses (ASSR) are recognized as reliable for evaluating hearing thresholds.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of auditory steady-state responses (ASSR) in detecting hearing impairment in infants with perinatal brain injury.
- To compare the diagnostic performance of ASSR with auditory brainstem responses (ABR) as a gold standard.
Main Methods:
- ASSR and ABR were performed on 53 infants with perinatal brain injury and abnormal neurological findings.
- Data analysis included sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of ASSR against ABR.
Main Results:
- ABR showed 62.26% normal and 37.74% abnormal results.
- ASSR identified 67.9% abnormal hearing results, with 100% sensitivity and 100% negative predictive value compared to ABR.
- Abnormalities detected by ASSR were mild in 39.6%, moderate in 18.9%, and severe in 9.4% of infants.
Conclusions:
- Hearing loss is a frequent complication in infants with perinatal brain injury.
- ASSR demonstrates high sensitivity for detecting hearing impairment in this population, particularly for mild hearing loss at specific frequencies.
Abstract:
Infants with perinatal brain injury present impairments in motor, visual, auditory, and cognitive functions. The most useful methods for detecting auditory alterations are auditory brainstem responses and otoacoustic emissions. Auditory steady-state responses have been reported as a reliable and objective technique for evaluating the hearing threshold. Auditory brainstem responses and auditory steady-state responses were carried out in 53 infants with perinatal brain injury and abnormal neurologic findings. With auditory brainstem responses, 33 (62.26%) infants presented normal and 20 abnormal results; 8 (15.09%) exhibited mild alterations, 8 (15.09%) moderate, and 4 (7.54%) severe alterations. With auditory steady-state responses, 17 (32.0%) infants were normal and 36 (67.9%) had abnormal results. When auditory steady-state responses were compared with auditory brainstem responses gold standard, the assessment gave 100% sensitivity, 51.51% specificity, 55.55% positive predictive value, and 100% negative predictive value. Abnormalities were mild in 21 (39.6%) infants, moderate in 10 (18.9%), and 5 (9.4%) exhibited severe hearing loss. We conclude that hearing loss is a frequent abnormality in infants with perinatal brain injury, and auditory steady-state responses have a high sensitivity for detecting hearing impairment, which is more evident in mild hearing loss for specific frequencies.
