Related Experiment Videos
Experience with the audiologic assessment of infants and toddlers
1Department of Otolaryngology, Rose F. Kennedy Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461.
Insights
Visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) effectively assesses hearing sensitivity in 90% of infants and toddlers. This efficient behavioral method provides crucial audiometric data for young children in clinical and research settings.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Pediatric audiology
- Developmental audiology
Background:
- Assessing hearing sensitivity in infants and toddlers is crucial for early intervention.
- Traditional audiometric methods can be challenging in very young children.
- Behavioral assessment techniques are needed for reliable pediatric hearing evaluations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of the visually reinforced head-turn procedure (VRA) for assessing hearing sensitivity in infants and toddlers.
- To determine the feasibility of VRA for routine audiometric assessment in a clinical setting.
- To report on the success rate of obtaining audiometric threshold data using VRA.
Main Methods:
- The visually reinforced head-turn procedure (VRA) was used to assess hearing sensitivity.
- The study included 211 infants and toddlers aged 6-24 months.
- Audiometric threshold data were collected using air-conducted tonal signals and standard earphones.
Main Results:
- 90% of participants provided useful audiometric threshold data during the initial test session.
- 84% of infants and toddlers could be assessed using standard earphones.
- A single audiologist could complete the VRA assessment with the described equipment setup.
Conclusions:
- The visually reinforced head-turn procedure (VRA) is a simple and efficient method for routine audiometric assessment.
- VRA is highly effective for evaluating hearing sensitivity in the majority of infants and toddlers.
- This behavioral technique provides valuable data for the audiological management of very young children.
Abstract:
Experience with the behavioral assessment of hearing sensitivity is reported for 211 babies and toddlers aged 6-24 months. The visually reinforced head-turn procedure, visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA), was utilized to obtain threshold estimates for infants evaluated for both research and clinical purposes. At the initial test session, 90% of the infants and toddlers provided useful audiometric threshold data for air-conducted tonal signals; 84% could be assessed using standard earphones. The equipment arrangement described allows a single audiologist to complete the VRA assessment. The behavioral test technique offers the clinician a simple, efficient procedure for the routine audiometric assessment of the vast majority of very young children.