Auditory evoked magnetic fields in children with functional hearing loss.
OBJECTIVE
Abnormal cortical responses in patients with functional hearing loss were evaluated by magnetoencephalography, which can better separate bihemispherical activity than electroencephalography.


METHODS
Auditory evoked fields in response to 1 kHz or 2 kHz tone bursts at 80 dB sound pressure level were measured by a helmet-shaped magnetoencephalography system in 22 patients with functional hearing loss (18 females, mean age 13.2 years) as well as 5 control subjects under 10 years old. Waveform, latency, and equivalent current dipole of N100m responses were used to evaluate activity in the bilateral auditory cortices.


RESULTS
Abnormal N100m of the contralateral response to the stimulated ear, either absence or delayed latency in comparison to normal adult subjects, was found in 6 of the 7 patients with functional hearing loss aged 9 years or younger, but in only 3 of the 15 patients aged 10 years or older. However, such abnormalities were also observed in younger control subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
Auditory evoked field may be applied to objectively evaluate cortical auditory function in patients with functional hearing loss, but the normal findings for young children have not yet been established.
Yoshizaki
Naoto
N
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8574, Japan.
Kawase
Tetsuaki
T
Nakasato
Nobukazu
N
Kanno
Akitake
A
Okitsu
Takuji
T
Sunose
Hiroshi
H
Kobayashi
Toshimitsu
T
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000379:methods; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006315:Hearing Loss, Functional / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017678:Sex Distribution; D055815:Young Adult