Test-retest reliability of auditory brainstem responses to chirp stimuli in newborns

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability of auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to air- and bone-conducted chirp stimuli in newborns as a function of intensity. Design: A repeated measures quasi-experimental design was employed. Study sample: Thirty healthy newborns participated. ABRs were evoked using 60, 45, and 30 dB nHL air-conducted CE-Chirps and 45, 30, and 15 dB nHL bone-conducted CE-Chirps at a rate of 57.7/s. Measures were repeated by a second tester. Results: Statistically significant correlations (p <.0001) and predictive linear relations (p <.0001) were found between testers for wave V latencies and amplitudes to air- and bone-conducted CE-Chirps. There were also no statistically significant differences between testers with wave V latencies and amplitudes to air- and bone-conducted CE-Chirps (p >.05). As expected, significant differences in wave V latencies and amplitudes were seen as a function of stimulus intensity for air- and bone-conducted CE-Chirps (p <.0001). Conclusions: These results suggest that ABRs to air- and bone-conducted CE-Chirps can be reliably repeated in newborns with different testers. The CE-Chirp may be valuable for both screening and diagnostic audiologic assessments of newborns.

Key Words::

• Auditory brainstem response
• test-retest
• reliability
• chirp
• newborn

Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was presented in part on November 14, 2013 at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention, Chicago, USA. The Vidant Medical Center Audiology and Hearing Aid Center staff in Greenville, USA assisted in coordinating this research. We acknowledge Rhonda Joyner, Mel Fratzke, Bethany Britt, and Ashley Fuller. The assistance of Ron Taylor, Lynn Weatherby, and Sherri Weller at GSI and Joey Bair at Carolina Sales & Service is greatly appreciated.

Declaration of interest: We have a relevant non-financial relationship with a product described in this manuscript. Grason-Stadler (GSI) provided the Audera (V2.7) evoked potential system used in this research.

Notes

1. Prior to the analyses of variance, violations of assumptions were examined. Residual plots (i.e. observed-by-predicted-by-standardized residuals) for each dependent variable were examined to investigating the assumption of equal variance. In no case was a violation of normality found. Mauchly's test of sphericity was performed to examine the variance-covariance matrix of the repeated dependent variables to assure that they were circular in form. In any case that the Mauchly's test of sphericity was significant for a repeated measure, adjusted degrees of freedom and p values (Greenhouse-Geisser) were used.