PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 6700356

Absent auditory brain stem response: peripheral hearing loss or brain stem dysfunction?

N Kraus·O Ozdamar·L Stein·N Reed
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Interpretation of auditory brain stem response (ABR) findings can be problematic in cases where waves III and V are absent. Such findings can be attributed to profound hearing loss, brain stem neuropathology, or both. Over a 3-year period, 48 patients with no known brain stem damage and on whom audiologic data were available were found to have no response by ABR or absent waves III and V. Severe to profound hearing loss was documented in 38 cases, audiometric data were equivocal in 3 cases, and 7 patients showed pure tone sensitivity ranging from normal hearing to moderate impairment. Thus 15% had better hearing sensitivity than might have been expected from their ABR findings. Each of these patients also exhibited abnormal acoustic reflex findings. We report the electrophysiological (ABR, MLR, acoustic reflex), medical (history, neurological, EEG, CT scan) and behavioral (audiometric, speech and language, learning disabilities, psychological) data which characterize this group of patients.

Explore related subjects

Acoustic Impedance TestsAcoustic StimulationAdolescentAdultAudiometryAuditory ThresholdBrain StemChildChild, PreschoolEvoked Potentials, AuditoryFemaleHearing DisordersHumansInfantMaleReaction TimeCase ReportsJournal Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

N Kraus, O Ozdamar, L Stein, N Reed. 1984. Absent auditory brain stem response: peripheral hearing loss or brain stem dysfunction?. https://doi.org/10.1288/00005537-198403000-00019

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed1995

Early identification and management of hearing impairment.

Early detection and treatment of hearing loss can prevent a lifetime of difficulties. Severe sensorineural hearing loss is present in approximately one in 1,000 newborns. Many newborns have mild to moderate hearing loss, either conductive or sensorineural, that interferes with normal functioning. The family physician is in an excellent position to identify hearing impairment at an early stage. During well-child visits, simple checklists and screening tests can be completed to aid in detection of a hearing loss. The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing and the National Institutes of Health Consensus Statement recommend screening all infants for hearing loss, preferably during the newborn period. Children at high risk for hearing loss should be referred for auditory function tests, such as behavioral observation audiometry, auditory brain stem response, otoacoustic emissions testing, visual reinforcement audiometry and conditioned play audiometry. The advantages and limitations of each test should be understood by the family physician. An infant is never too young to be treated for hearing loss. The earlier intervention begins, the greater the chance a child will develop to maximum potential.

Acoustic Impedance Tests↗
PubMed1995

Gas exchange across the middle ear mucosa in monkeys. Estimation of exchange rate.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the rate of exchange of selected gases across the middle ear (ME) mucosa and define the exchange limitations. DESIGN: At separate sessions, the ME was inflated via the eustachian tube with a bolus of pure nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, or nitrous oxide, and ME pressures were recorded by tympanometry at selected intervals for up to 4 hours. The slope of the function relating pressure change to pressure was calculated by least squares regression and used as an estimate of the rate constant for exchange of that gas (experiment 1). Because of the slow rate of nitrogen exchange, a second experiment was performed in which the tensor veli palatini muscle was unilaterally paralyzed. The ME was inflated with nitrogen, and the slope of the rate-pressure function for measurements at 24-hour intervals was used to estimate the rate constant. SUBJECTS: Ten juvenile cynomolgus monkeys, six for experiment 1 and four for experiment 2. RESULTS: The relative, average rate constants for carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and nitrogen were 1, 10.7, 18.6, and greater than 700, respectively. Comparisons of these rates with those predicted by theory show that oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange is diffusion limited, and nitrous oxide and nitrogen is perfusion limited. CONCLUSIONS: The perfusion limitation for nitrogen suggests that its exchange rate is notably increased by inflammation from increased mucosal blood flow. Targeting inflammation for therapy of persistent ME effusions may decrease the rate of nitrogen exchange and reestablish normal ME pressure regulation.

Acoustic Impedance Tests↗