Comparison of auditory steady-state response and click-evoked auditory brain response in infants with different types and degrees of hearing loss

Abstract

Background: Auditory steady-state response (ASSR) and click-evoked auditory brain response (c-ABR) have been used for hearing assessment for decades years, the correlation of the two methods and the effects of type and degree of hearing loss (HL) to the correlation in infants younger than 6 months of age are unclear.

Objectives: To compare the correlation of ASSR and c-ABR and then to analyse the effects of type and degree of HL on the correlation in infants younger than 6 months of age.

Material and methods: Retrospective study comparing ASSR thresholds at various frequencies with c-ABR thresholds. 182 ears from 96 infants were assessed and classified according to types and degrees of HL.

Results: The correlation coefficients were: 0.823, 0.864, 0.891, 0.871, 0.908, 0.915 and 0.913 between ASSR thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 2–4, 1–2–4, 0.5–1–2–4 kHz and c-ABR thresholds respectively. The correlation coefficients in the group of sensorineural HL (SHL) (r = 0.763–0.900) were higher than conductive HL (r = 0.309–0.619) across all frequencies. The coefficients of severe-profound SHL (r = 0.595–0.790) were higher than mild-moderate SHL (r = 0.434–0.687) across all frequencies.

Conclusions and significance: ASSR was one valuable cross-check measure by providing frequency specific information in auditory assessment.

Chinese abstract

背景：听觉稳态反应（ASSR）和点击诱发听觉脑反应（c-ABR）用于听力评估已有几十年的历史, 两种方法的相关性以及6个月以下婴儿听力损失类型和程度对此相关性的影响尚不清楚。

目的：比较ASSR与c-ABR的相关性, 分析HL的类型和程度对6个月以下婴儿的相关性的影响。

材料与方法：回顾性研究不同频率的ASSR阈值与c-ABR阈值的比较。对96例婴儿的182耳按HL的类型和程度进行评定和分类。

结果：在0.5、1、2、4、2–4、1–2–4、0.5–1–2–4赫兹的ASSR阈值和c-ABR阈值的相关系数分别为0.823、0.864、0.891、0.871、0.908、0.915、0.913。感音神经性HL（SHL）（r = 0.763–0.900）组各频率的相关系数均高于传导性HL（r = 0.309–0.619）。在所有频率中, 重度SHL（r = 0.595–0.790）的系数均高于轻-中度SHL（r = 0.434–0.687）。

结论及意义：ASSR是一种有价值的交叉检查方法, 可为听力测试提供频率特异性信息。

Keywords:

• Auditory steady-state response
• auditory brainstem response
• infant
• hearing assessment
• hearing loss

Acknowledgements

We thank all the babies and their parents for their participation in the study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.