Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Atlanta, October 1985: Auditory Brain-Stem (Evoked) Response Results in Patients With Posterior Fossa Tumors and Normal Pure-Tone Hearing

Abstract

At the meeting, Frank Musiek, PhD, an audiologist from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, NH, and associates Anne Forrest Josey, MA, Michael Glasscock III, MD, and Nathan A. Geurkink, MD, presented the findings of a careful study of 16 patients with confirmed mass lesions of the posterior fossa and normal pure-tone hearing. The purpose of the study was to analyze pertinent patient characteristics, symptoms, auditory brain-stem (evoked) response (ABR) results, and any correlations to lesion size. In regard to patient characteristics, the patients in this group were younger (mean, 34 years of age) than the typical patient with a posterior fossa lesion. Also of interest was that, despite normal pure-tone hearing, 13 patients complained of hearing difficulty and/or severe tinnitus in the ear ipsilateral to the side of the lesion. Auditory brain-stem (evoked) response results were abnormal in 15 patients, although several indexes, including absolute and interwave latencies, interaural latency