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[On infantile audiometry: the Bordeaux strategy]
Insights
Pediatric audiologists can now perform precise hearing tests on infants as young as 6 months old. This method provides early, accurate, and reliable hearing assessments for young children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Audiology
- Hearing Science
Background:
- Infantile audiometry, or behavioral hearing tests for children, typically requires specialized pediatric audiologists.
- Many centers consider subjective hearing examinations impossible in children under three years old.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe a strategy and techniques for conducting precise audiometric tests, including bone conduction, in infants from 6 months of age.
- To present statistical data supporting the early, accurate, and reliable audiological assessments.
Main Methods:
- Detailed description of the audiology testing strategy and techniques for infants aged 6 months and older.
- Utilizing headphones for audiometric curve acquisition from 6 months.
- Statistical analysis of over 600 cases accumulated over 15 years.
Main Results:
- Successful completion of precise audiometric tests, including bone conduction, in infants as young as 6 months.
- Demonstration of the earliness, accuracy, and reliability of hearing curves obtained using the described method.
- Validation of the technique through extensive statistical studies.
Conclusions:
- The described method enables accurate and reliable hearing assessments in infants from 6 months of age.
- This approach challenges the conventional view that subjective hearing tests are impossible in very young children.
- The findings support the early detection and management of hearing impairments in infants.
Abstract:
Infantile "subjective" or behavioural audiometry requires highly skilled pediatric audiologists. It is indeed often said in the majority of centres that any subjective examination is impossible under the age of 3, whereas in our clinic we successfully complete extremely precise tests, including in bone conduction, as from the age of 6 months. The strategy and techniques employed to obtain audiometric curves with headphones as from such an age are described. Subsequently, the statistical studies covering over 600 cases are presented, evidencing the earliness, accuracy and reliability of the curves obtained over nearly 15 years in Bordeaux by the method described.