title: Air-bone gap estimated with multiple auditory steady-state response in young children with otitis media with effusion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Multiple auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs) to air- and bone-conduction stimuli were recorded in young children with otitis media with effusion (OME). After treatment for OME, differences between pre-treatment bone-conduction ASSR levels and post-treatment conditioned orientation reflex (COR) or air-conduction ASSR levels were examined, and compared with ASSR-estimated air-bone gap (ABG) before treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Navigator Pro with Master was used to assess the threshold of air- and bone-conduction ASSR in both ears at 500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz and 4000Hz. For bone-conduction ASSR, RadioEar B-71 bone-vibrator placed on the mastoid was used with white-noise masking on the contralateral ear.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After ventilation tube placement, the thresholds of COR got closer to those of pre-treatment bone-conduction ASSR in young children with OME. Moreover, post-treatment air-conduction ASSR thresholds also got closer to those of pre-treatment bone-conduction ASSR. The differences between pre-treatment bone-conduction ASSR thresholds and post-treatment COR or air-conduction ASSR thresholds became much smaller than ASSR-estimated ABG before treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that bone-conduction ASSR can assess the normal or near normal cochlear sensitivity in young children with conductive hearing loss. It is also suggested that ASSR-estimated ABG can be used clinically to predict their accurate ABG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, University of Tokushima School of Medicine, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Hinami
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Udaka
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chida
authors.forename: Aki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takeda
mesh_terms: D001300:Audiometry, Evoked Response / Q000379:methods*; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D001844:Bone Conduction / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003051:Cochlea / Q000503:physiopathology; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Air-bone gap; Auditory steady-state response; Bone-conduction; Conductive hearing loss; Otitis media with effusion; Young children