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. 2024 Jul 26;14(15):1617.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14151617.

The Auditory Steady-State Response and the Relationship between Electrophysiological and Behavioural Thresholds

Cyntia Barbosa Laureano Luiz  1 , Daniela Gil  1   2   3 , Piotr Henryk Skarzynski  4   5   6   7   8   9 , Magdalena Beata Skarżyńska  10   11   12 , Milaine Dominici Sanfins  1   2   3   4 , Marisa Frasson de Azevedo  1
Affiliations

The Auditory Steady-State Response and the Relationship between Electrophysiological and Behavioural Thresholds

Cyntia Barbosa Laureano Luiz et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: This study examined the relationship between behavioural thresholds as measured by pure tone audiometry and electrophysiological thresholds measured by the Auditory Steady-State Response (ASSR) in children with normal hearing and sensorineural hearing loss.

Materials and methods: After being assessed, 45 children of both sexes, ranging in age from 5 to 15, were split into four groups: 10 with moderate to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss (G2M); 10 with steeply sloping sensorineural hearing loss (G2D); 10 with profound and severe sensorineural hearing loss (G2S); and 15 with normal hearing (G1). ASSR, tympanometry, acoustic reflex testing, pure tone audiometry, and speech audiometry (SRT and SDT) were performed.

Results: The electrophysiological maximum in the group with normal hearing thresholds varied from 19 to 27 dB NA. The correlation in the group with moderate to moderately severe hearing loss was 0.42-0.74. The correlation in the steeply sloping hearing loss group was 0.68-0.94. The correlation in the group of people with profound and severe hearing loss was 0.59-0.86. The normal hearing group's mean differences in ASSR threshold and audiometric threshold ranged from -0.3 to 12 dB, in the moderate and moderately severe hearing loss group from -9 to 2 dB, in the steeply sloping hearing loss group from 1.4 to 7.5 dB, and in the severe and profound hearing loss group from -0.40 to 8.5 dB.

Conclusion: As expected, there was no strong relationship between behavioural and electrophysiological thresholds in the group with normal hearing. But in children with hearing loss, there was a strong correlation between electrophysiological and behavioural thresholds; this relationship was especially evident in children with severe and profound hearing loss and those with steeply sloping hearing loss.

Keywords: audiometry; auditory evoked potentials; electrophysiology; hearing loss; hearing tests; pure tone audiometry.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scatter diagrams for the right ear of behavioural thresholds (and electrophysiological thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz in the total sample).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scatter diagrams for the left ear of behavioural thresholds and ASSR thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz in the total sample.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatter diagrams for right ears of behavioural auditory thresholds and electrophysiological thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz. Key: G1, control group; G2M, study group with moderate and moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss; G2S, study group with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss; and G2D, study group with descending sensorineural hearing loss.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scatter diagrams for left ears of behavioural auditory thresholds and electrophysiological thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz. Key: G1, control group; G2M, study group with moderate and moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss; G2S, study group with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss; and G2D, study group with descending sensorineural hearing loss.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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