73. Hearing screening using auditory steady state responses obtained by simultaneous air- and bone-conduction stimuli

Abstract

Objective Our objective was to evaluate the efficiency of an automated hearing screening test based on auditory steady state responses obtained using simultaneous air- and bone-conduction stimuli. Material and methods A sample of 80 high risk babies lees than 2 months of born were screened using the automatic screening test. A confirmatory clinical and electrophysiological evaluation was used as the gold standard. Results The estimated diagnostic efficiency of this screening test was equivalent (100% sensitivity and 97.7% specificity) to the efficiency reported for otoacoustic emissions and automated auditory brainstem responses. The introduction of bone conduction in the screening reduced the false positive rate from 13.3% to 2.2%. The test duration was 5.3 ( ± 1.9) min. In 34% of babies, only one repetition of the test was needed to raising the result. Conclusions The screening test performed quite well in this initial clinical trial, differentiating transient conductive hearing losses from permanent neurosensory impairments, reducing the number of positive false cases. Significance This test permits to improve the diagnostic efficiency of auditory steady state responses.