Auditory steady-state evoked potentials in sensorineural hearing loss and normal auditory function

Objective: to evaluate the correlation between psychoacoustic hearing thresholds and ASSR (Auditory Steady-State Response) thresholds in patients with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and in otologically healthy subjects. Material and methods. Auditory function was studied in 130 people grouped into 3 groups: group 1 consisted of patients with chronic SNHL (n=50), group 2 – patients with acute SNHL (n=50), group 3 – otologically healthy subjects (n=30). Thresholds were compared when registering tonal threshold audiometry and when registering auditory stationary evoked potentials. Results. The average difference between psychoacoustic hearing thresholds and ASSR thresholds at 4 speech frequencies in patients with SNHL in the right ear was 15 dB normal hearing threshold (NHT; p=0.005), in the left ear – 14.4 dB NHT (p=0.005), with a minimum difference of 12.3±5.9 dB NHT at 4000 Hz in patients with chronic SNHL in the right ear (p<0.001), with a maximum difference of 18.4±8.2 dB NHT at a frequency of 2000 Hz in patients with acute SNHL in the left ear (p=0.005). In otologically healthy subjects, the average difference between psychoacoustic hearing thresholds and ASR thresholds at 4 speech frequencies in the right ear was 10 dB NHT, in the left ear – 11.2 dB NHT. The minimum threshold difference was detected at a frequency of 4000 Hz in the right ear (6.5±1.6 dB NHT; p<0.001), the maximum at a frequency of 500 Hz in the right ear (14.8±5.8 dB NHT). In patients with SNHL, the correlation coefficient ranged from 0.81 to 0.94 (p<0.001) when registering the tonal threshold audiometry and ASSR test. In otologically healthy subjects, the correlation closeness on the Chaddock scale ranged from 0.76 to 0.96 (p<0.001). Conclusion. The obtained values demonstrate a significant strong correlation between psychoacoustic hearing thresholds and ASSR thresholds.