Analysis of p1 latency in normal hearing and profound sensorineural hearing loss

Jeong Hun Jang1, Hyun Kyung Jang, Sung Eun Kim

  • 1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Insights

The P1 latency in Korean children with normal hearing shortens with age, providing objective measures for auditory pathway maturation. This study establishes normative P1 latency values for Koreans.

Area of Science:

  • Auditory Neuroscience
  • Developmental Audiology

Background:

  • The P1 response, a positive deflection in auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) occurring at 50-150 msec, reflects early auditory processing in children.
  • P1 latency typically decreases rapidly during the first 2-3 years of life, reaching approximately 60 msec in adults with normal hearing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine age-related changes in P1 latency for Korean individuals with normal hearing.
  • To compare P1 latency in young patients with profound sensorineural hearing loss before and after cochlear implantation (CI).

Main Methods:

  • Auditory evoked potentials were recorded in 53 normal-hearing individuals, 13 pre-CI patients, and 10 post-CI patients.
  • A synthesized /ba/ syllable elicited responses, recorded from the frontal scalp.
  • Individual grand average waveforms were computed, and P1 latency was visually identified.

Main Results:

  • A significant age-related decrease in P1 latency was observed in the normal-hearing group (coefficient, -0.758; P<0.001).
  • In the pre-CI group, 10 patients exhibited delayed P1 latencies, and 3 showed no P1 wave.
  • Post-CI patients demonstrated a trend towards less delayed P1 latencies compared to pre-CI, but this difference was not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

  • This study establishes the first normative P1 latency values by age for the Korean population.
  • P1 latency serves as an objective indicator for assessing the maturation of central auditory pathways.
Abstract