Clinical comparison of the auditory steady-state response with the click auditory brainstem response in infants.
OBJECTIVE
Our goal was to determine the effectiveness of using the auditory steady state response (ASSR) as a measure of hearing thresholds in infants who are suspected of having significant hearing loss, as compared with using the click-auditory brainstem response (C-ABR).


METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed the audiologic profiles of 76 infants (46 boys and 30 girls, a total of 151 ears) who ranged in age from 1 to 12 months (average age: 5.7 months). The auditory evaluations in 76 infants who were suspected of having hearing loss were done via the C-ABR and ASSR. In addition, for reference, the mean ASSR thresholds were compared to those of 39 ears of infants and 39 ears of adults with normal hearing at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz.


RESULTS
The highest correlation between the C-ABR and ASSR thresholds was observed at an average of 2-4 kHz (r=0.94). On comparison between the hearing of infants and adults at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz, the mean ASSR threshold in infants was 12, 7, 8, and 7 dB higher, respectively, than that in adults.


CONCLUSIONS
ASSR testing may provide additional audiometric information for accurately predicting the hearing sensitivity, and this is essential for the management of infants with severe to profound hearing loss.
Department of Otolaryngology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Hyo Sook
HS
Lee
Joong Ho
JH
Ahn
Jong Woo
JW
Chung
Tae Hyun
TH
Yoon
Kwang-Sun
KS
Lee