Maturation of Auditory Brainstem Responses in Babies from Birth to 6 Months of Age ABS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective: New born hearing screening plays an important role in making a diagnosis within the first six months of life in congenital he a ring losses. In this age group, the infant’s maturation is influential in the evaluation of the Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test, which is important in diagnosis. Because many ABR cha rac te ris tics vary with age, age-re lated maturational values must be established for all populations to be evaluated. The purpose of the presentstudy was to establish age-related maturational changes for infants aged 0-6 months. Materialand Met hods: ABR was measured in 180 sub jects from 0 months to 6 months of age. Transient Evoked Oto acoustic Emission (TEOAE), Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR) and diagnostic ABR tests were performed respectively for each subject. Results: In our study, maturational da ta of ABR absolute latencies and in ter peak latencies obtained at different age groups and stimuli intensity level were presented. According to our study results, absolute latencies of waves I, II I, V, and I-II I, II I-V, I-V inter peak latencies decreased as a function of advancing age. While absolute latencies of waves I, II I, V sho wed a systematic increase, I-II I, II I-V, I-V in ter peak latencies decreased as stimulus intensity decreased from 80 dB nHL to 20 dB nHL. To our results, there were no significant differences between gender and ears in terms of wave absolute latencies and in ter peak latencies. Conclusion: Knowledge on the ABR characteristics within first six months of life will enable clinicians to discriminate normal situations from pathologic ones in diagnosing hearing loss for the infant population.