Prognostic validity of brainstem electric response audiometry in infants of a neonatal intensive care unit

Audiology. 1991;30(5):249-65. doi: 10.3109/00206099109072889.

Abstract

This study compared the results of brainstem electric response audiometry (BERA) in infants of a neonatal intensive care unit to those obtained on the same children with pure-tone audiometry at 3 years of age. Six hundred children were initially tested in infancy, and complete follow-up information was obtained on 333. In 297 (89%) the BERA results accurately predicted the hearing status at the age of 3 years. Twenty-nine (9%) of the discrepancies were related to conductive hearing losses: 17 patients with a conductive hearing loss in the first few months of life had normal hearing at 3 years, and 12 patients normal in infancy had a conductive loss at 3 years. Two patients evaluated as a sensorineural hearing loss by BERA had normal hearing. These may have been due to a conductive loss. Six patients assessed as normal by BERA had significant hearing losses at the age of 3 years. Five of these had normal hearing at one frequency between 1,000 and 4,000 Hz. The sixth may have developed a sensorineural hearing loss after birth.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Audiometry, Evoked Response*
  • Audiometry, Pure-Tone
  • Auditory Threshold
  • Child, Preschool
  • Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Hearing Loss, Conductive / diagnosis*
  • Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / diagnosis*
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Intensive Care Units, Neonatal
  • Prognosis
  • Reproducibility of Results