title: Identifying congenital hearing impairment: preliminary results from a comparative study using objective and subjective audiometric protocols.
abstract: To compare objective and subjective protocols assessing hearing loss in young children and evaluate frequency-specific hearing impairment through a comparison between auditory steady state responses (ASSR), auditory brainstem responses (ABR), transient otoacoustic emissions and conditioned orientation reflex responses (COR). Thirty-five hearing-impaired children (20 male and 15 female), aged between 14 months and 4 years, participated in the study. Hearing threshold levels and peripheral auditory function were assessed by measurements of ABR, ASSR, otoacoustic emissions and COR. The analysis of the COR and ASSR variables showed significant correlations in the majority of tested frequencies. The data highlight a characteristic of the COR procedure, which is an underestimation of the hearing threshold in comparison to the ASSR estimate. The data show that the COR threshold assessment follows the pattern of the other two established electrophysiological methods (ABR, ASSR). The correlation analyses did not permit evaluation of the precision of these estimates. Considering that the ASSR variables show a better relationship with ABR (higher correlation values) than COR, it might be advantageous to utilize the ASSR to gain frequency-specific information.
authors.affiliation: ENT and Audiology Department, University of Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ciorba
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hatzopoulos
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Petruccelli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazzoli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pastore
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kochanek
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Skarzynski
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wlodarczyk
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Skarzynski
mesh_terms: D001299:Audiometry / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000151:congenital* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous
keywords: Auditory brain-stem responses (ABR); Auditory steady state responses (ASSR); Conditioned orientation reflex (COR); Otoacoustic emissions (OAE); Sensorineural hearing loss