Abstract
Background: Auditory steady state response provides a frequency specific and automatic assessment of hearing sensitivity and is used in infants and difficult to test population.
Objective: The present study is a prospective interventional study to evaluate correlations between hearing thresholds determined by pure-tone audiometry (PTA) and auditory steady-state response (ASSR) testing among patients with and without hearing loss.
Materials and methods: The study was conducted on 120 ears??40 ears with conductive hearing loss, 40 ears with sensorineural hearing loss, and 40 normal-hearing ears.
Results: It was found that mean threshold differences between PTA results and ASSR testing at different frequencies did not exceed 15 dB in any group. Using Pearson correlation coefficient calculations, it was determined that the two responses correlated better in patients with sensorineural hearing loss than in those with conductive hearing loss and best in the normal population.
Conclusion: Measuring ASSRs can be an excellent complement to other diagnostic methods like pure tone audiometry in determining hearing thresholds especially in malingering and other difficult to test adults.
Keywords