title: Assessment of hearing threshold in adults with hearing loss using an automated system of cortical auditory evoked potential detection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The use of hearing aids by individuals with hearing loss brings a better quality of life. Access to and benefit from these devices may be compromised in patients who present difficulties or limitations in traditional behavioral audiological evaluation, such as newborns and small children, individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum, autism, and intellectual deficits, and in adults and the elderly with dementia. These populations (or individuals) are unable to undergo a behavioral assessment, and generate a growing demand for objective methods to assess hearing. Cortical auditory evoked potentials have been used for decades to estimate hearing thresholds. Current technological advances have lead to the development of equipment that allows their clinical use, with features that enable greater accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity, and the possibility of automated detection, analysis, and recording of cortical responses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine and correlate behavioral auditory thresholds with cortical auditory thresholds obtained from an automated response analysis technique.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 52 adults, divided into two groups: 21 adults with moderate to severe hearing loss (study group); and 31 adults with normal hearing (control group). An automated system of detection, analysis, and recording of cortical responses (HEARLab®) was used to record the behavioral and cortical thresholds. The subjects remained awake in an acoustically treated environment. Altogether, 150 tone bursts at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000Hz were presented through insert earphones in descending-ascending intensity. The lowest level at which the subject detected the sound stimulus was defined as the behavioral (hearing) threshold (BT). The lowest level at which a cortical response was observed was defined as the cortical electrophysiological threshold. These two responses were correlated using linear regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cortical electrophysiological threshold was, on average, 7.8dB higher than the behavioral for the group with hearing loss and, on average, 14.5dB higher for the group without hearing loss for all studied frequencies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cortical electrophysiological thresholds obtained with the use of an automated response detection system were highly correlated with behavioral thresholds in the group of individuals with hearing loss.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: alessandra.durante@fcmsantacasasp.edu.br.
authors.forename: Alessandra Spada
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Durante
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Margarita Bernal
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Wieselberg
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Nayara
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Roque
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pucci
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Nicolly
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gudayol
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Kátia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: de Almeida
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001299:Audiometry; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
keywords: Auditory evoked potentials; Auditory perception; Auxiliares de audição; Electrophysiology; Eletrofisiologia; Hearing aids; Hearing loss; Percepção auditiva; Perda auditiva; Potenciais evocados auditivos