ASCERTAINMENT OF RESIDUAL HEARING IN SEVERE TO PROFOUND SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS IN CHILDREN BY USING ABR-MLR AND SPEECH PROFILE ASSESSMENT

Abstract

Early identification and diagnosis of hearing impaired infants and children depend on objective electro- physiological tests. So, considerable efforts are being made to improve the outcorne of habituation programs for those with impaired hearing. Unfortunately, while success is made at the high frequency end of the audiogram through ABR; ambiguities are met with at the low frequency regron. In this study an attempt was done to evaluate the residual hearing through MLR asynchronus response and ABR synchronus response. Thus it can be recorded with click stimulus. However, it poses some ambiguites on for tie lei recording. It appeared that synchronus tiring of the involved neurons was not essential to successful recording of the MLR nne! hence low tl·equency residual hearing may be reached. So, the combination of ABR - MLR recordings would be viable for ascertainment of the presence of residual hearing through asynchronus versus synchronis responses. This research was designed to study relationship between ABR - MLR and puretone threshold audiometry in severe to profound SNHL and to discribe ar1iculated speech profile in relation to residual hearing.

Thirty five subjects of both sexes particpated in this study. Five normal hearing sbjects with their age ranged. between 8 and I 5 years. Thir:ty. hearing impaired subjects with their age ranged between 8 and 15