COMPARISON OF HEARING THRESHOLD ESTIMATION USING AUDITORY STEADY STATE RESPONSES AND BRAINSTEM AUDITORY EVOKED
Slobodanka Lemajić-Komazec1, Zoran Komazec1, Maja Buljčik Čupić1
1University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases, Clinical Center of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia.
Insights
Pediatric audiologists recommend hearing amplification for infants 6 months and older. This study compared click-evoked auditory brainstem response (c-ABR) and auditory steady-state response (ASSR) in children, finding strong correlations at higher frequencies, supporting ASSR as a valuable tool for early hearing assessment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Audiology
- Neurophysiology
- Hearing Science
Background:
- Current pediatric audiology guidelines recommend hearing amplification for children aged 6 months and older.
- Accurate hearing threshold estimation in early childhood is crucial for timely intervention.
- Click-evoked auditory brainstem response (c-ABR) and auditory steady-state response (ASSR) are electrophysiological methods used for hearing assessment in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the results obtained by c-ABR and ASSR in a group of children with varying degrees of hearing impairment.
- To evaluate the correlation between c-ABR and ASSR thresholds across different frequencies.
- To determine the clinical utility of ASSR as a complementary method for early hearing threshold estimation in children.
Main Methods:
- The study included 68 children with different degrees of hearing impairment.
- Hearing thresholds were evaluated using both c-ABR and ASSR.
- Correlation coefficients and individual differences between c-ABR and ASSR thresholds were analyzed at various frequencies (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 1-4, 2-4 kHz).
Main Results:
- A strong correlation was observed between c-ABR and ASSR thresholds at 2, 4, 1-4, and 2-4 kHz.
- Individual differences between thresholds varied, with smaller differences at higher frequencies (2 and 4 kHz).
- The correlation between c-ABR and ASSR thresholds was particularly strong in children with hearing impairments worse than 40 dBHL at higher frequencies.
Conclusions:
- ASSR demonstrates a strong correlation with c-ABR thresholds at key higher frequencies.
- ASSR is a valuable clinical tool and an excellent complementary method for audiologic assessment.
- Utilizing ASSR alongside other techniques can provide more accurate hearing threshold estimations in young children, facilitating early intervention.
Abstract:
Current recommendations proposed by pediatric audiologists are to commence with hearing amplification in children aged 6 months and above, after previous determination of the type and degree of hearing impairment and audiometric configuration. The goal of this study was to compare results obtained by click-evoked auditory brainstem response (c-ABR) and auditory steady state response (ASSR) in a group of children. This study included 68 children with different degrees of hearing impairment evaluated by c-ABR and ASSR. It is well-known that the c-ABR threshold highly correlates with behavioral hearing level at 2 kHz. In our study, the correlation between the c-ABR and ASSR thresholds in the whole sample was 0.58, 0.73, 0.97, 0.96, 0.95, 0.97; in the group of children with c-ABR thresholds up to 40 dBHL, it was 0.42, 0.73, 0.86, 0.74, 0.81, 0.81; and in the group with c-ABR thresholds worse than 40 dBHL, it was 0.46, 0.56, 0.89, 0.83, 0.85, 0.89 at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 1-4, 2-4 kHz, respectively. Individual differences between the c-ABR and ASSR thresholds in the whole sample were up to 95, 90, 20, 25 dB at 0.5, 1, 2, 4 kHz, respectively. Study results indicated that there was strong correlation between the c-ABR and ASSR thresholds at 2, 4, 1-4, 2-4 kHz. The ASSR can be used as a valuable clinical tool and an excellent complementary method which, along with other audiologic techniques, provides more accurate hearing threshold estimation at an early age in children.
