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Early detection of hearing loss in infants by auditory nerve and brain stem responses
Insights
Auditory brain-stem evoked responses (ABR) correlate well with behavioral hearing tests in children. ABR is recommended for high-risk neonates when behavioral screening is not feasible.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Neuroscience
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Early detection of hearing loss in infants and children is crucial for development.
- Standard behavioral hearing tests have limitations in very young children.
- Auditory-nerve and brain-stem-evoked responses (ABR) offer an objective measure of auditory function.
Observation:
- A comparison was made between ABR and behavioral audiometry in 65 hearing-impaired children.
- A second comparison focused on ABR in neonates.
- ABR provides more accurate auditory information than behavioral testing in neonates.
Findings:
- A strong correlation was observed between ABR and pure-tone/speech audiograms in 61 out of 65 hearing-impaired children.
- The study discusses discrepancies in 4 children, suggesting further investigation.
- ABR testing demonstrated superior accuracy compared to behavioral methods in neonates.
Implications:
- ABR is a valuable tool for confirming hearing loss in children with existing audiograms.
- ABR screening is highly recommended for high-risk neonates, particularly when mass behavioral screening is impractical.
- Objective electrophysiological measures like ABR enhance the accuracy of early hearing loss detection.
Abstract:
Auditory-nerve and brain-stem-evoked responses (ABR) have been used alongside standard behavioral hearing tests for the early detection of hearing loss in infants and young children. Two comparisons are presented. The first concerns a group of 65 hearing-impaired children for whom we now have complete pure-tone and speech audiograms. There is a good correlation between the two types of hearing tests in 61 children; the lack of correlation in 4 children is discussed. The second comparison was conducted on neonates. Because ABR testing provides information which is far more accurate than behavioral testing, it is recommended for use in high-risk neonates, especially when mass behavioral screening is not feasible.