[Hearing loss in children. Diagnostic challenges]

Auditory brain stem response thresholds have been determined in 142 anaesthetized children who were difficult or impossible to assess using conventional behavioural audiometry techniques. Auditory brain stem response was later compared with puretone thresholds in the 2-4 kHz range, and an acceptable auditory brain stem response reliability was demonstrated. Using the auditory brain stem response results as a basis, we analysed some parental and behavioural auditory aspects in order to obtain a reliable diagnosis of hearing at a younger age than hitherto.