[A study on the reliability of evoked response audiometry in infants below one year of age; a long-term follow-up].
The reliability of brainstem evoked response audiometry (ERA) as an objective audiometric study was evaluated in long term follow-up infants with moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss. None of the infants had either brain damage (cerebral palsy, mental retardation) or other severe complications (genetic diseases). The thresholds of ERA at 1 kHz and 4 kHz were measured in 234 infants below one year of age, from 1983 to 1990, in our hospital. These infants were followed-up to the age when conditioned oriented response audiometry (COR) and play audiometry could be conducted. Pure tone thresholds obtained by COR and play audiometry were compared with those of ERA. In addition, speech problems in these patients were evaluated. In all of those infants, hearing aids were fitted before one year of age to achieve early habilitation. As a results, ERA was found to be a reliable and efficacious test for determining auditory thresholds, and providing hearing aids for early habilitation in one-year old infants with moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss.
Kanagawa Children's Medical Center.
I
I
Takamatsu
N
N
Ogahara
K
K
Tsuchiya
T
T
Nagahara
K
K
Yamashita
M
M
Tsukuda
D001300:Audiometry, Evoked Response; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D015203:Reproducibility of Results