National Acoustic Laboratories Library

The Impact of Degree of Hearing Loss on Auditory Brainstem Response Predictions of Behavioral Thresholds

The Impact of Degree of Hearing Loss on Auditory Brainstem Response Predictions of Behavioral Thresholds

Objectives: Diagnosis of hearing loss and prescription of amplification
for infants and young children require accurate estimates of ear- and
frequency-specific behavioral thresholds based on auditory brainstem
response (ABR) measurements. Although the overall relationship between
ABR and behavioral thresholds has been demonstrated, the agreement is
imperfect, and the accuracy of predictions of behavioral threshold based
on ABR may depend on degree of hearing loss. Behavioral thresholds
are lower than ABR thresholds, at least in part due to differences in
calibration interacting with the effects of temporal integration, which are
manifest in behavioral measurements but not ABR measurements and
depend on behavioral threshold. Listeners with sensory hearing loss
exhibit reduced or absent temporal integration, which could impact the
relationship between ABR and behavioral thresholds as degree of hearing
loss increases. The present study evaluated the relationship between ABR
and behavioral thresholds in infants and children over a range of hearing
thresholds, and tested an approach for adjusting the correction factor
based on degree of hearing loss as estimated by ABR measurements.


Auditory brainstem response,
Hearing assessment,
Visual reinforcement audiometry.
Correction factors,
Behavioral audiometry,
Children
Conditioned play audiometry,

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