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Updated: Aug 27, 2026
Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities
Published on: January 29, 2014
Electric response audiometry in infants and preschool children. Long-term control of the results
V Garrubba1, F Grandori, M Lamoretti
1Otorhinolaryngologic Clinic, University of Brescia, Italy.
Insights
Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) and Electrocochleography (ECochG) accurately diagnose hearing loss in young children. ABR and ECochG offer superior diagnostic accuracy compared to other methods for identifying auditory impairment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Audiology
- Neuroscience
- Otolaryngology
Background:
- Early identification of auditory impairment in infants and preschool children is crucial for development.
- Conventional pure-tone audiometry can be challenging in this age group.
- Objective electrophysiological measures are vital for accurate hearing assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR), Electrocochleography (ECochG), and Steady-State Response (SSR) in infants and preschool children.
- To determine the most effective audiological testing strategy for diagnosing hearing loss in young children.
- To compare the performance of ABR and ECochG in detecting sensorineural hearing loss.
Main Methods:
- Follow-up study of 204 infants and preschool children with suspected auditory impairment.
- Utilized ABR, ECochG, and SSR (Sound Verificaion Response) for auditory assessment.
- Compared electrophysiological results with conventional pure-tone audiograms obtained after follow-up.
Main Results:
- ECochG and ABR demonstrated high accuracy rates (99.15% and 98.37% hit rates, respectively), with low false positive rates.
- ECochG showed higher detection rates for sensorineural hearing loss at 90 dB nHL (75%) compared to ABR (51.5%).
- ABR combined with middle ear impedance measures, supplemented by ECochG, emerged as the optimal diagnostic strategy.
Conclusions:
- ABR and ECochG are highly reliable for diagnosing hearing loss in young children.
- ECochG is particularly effective for detecting sensorineural hearing loss.
- A combined approach using ABR, middle ear impedance, and ECochG provides the best strategy for comprehensive audiological evaluation.
Abstract:
Two hundred and four infants and preschool children (mean age 2 years and 7 months +/- 9 months) with auditory impairment according to ABR and ECochG data, and 33 subjected to SVR were followed up for periods ranging from 1 year to 4 years and 6 months until a reliable conventional pure tone audiogram was obtained. One hundred and fifty-one children had conductive hearing loss, 75 sensorineural, 7 had ABR indicating disorders of the central auditory pathways, 5 were normal. Hit, false positive and false negative rates resulted as follows: 58.62%, 17.24% and 24.14% for SVR: 98.37%, 1.63% and 0% for ABR; 99.15%, 0.85% and 0% for ECochG. In the group with sensorineural hearing loss, 75% of the children gave ECochG detectable responses at 90 dB nHL, against 51.5% with ABR. With 1 kHz tonebursts, 64% of the tested subjects gave threshold responses to ECochG and 12% to ABR. The best strategy for children who failed the behavioral hearing tests, or in whom these tests were not applicable, was that based on ABR and middle ear impedance measures, complemented, when necessary, by ECochG.
