Study of brainstem evoked response audiometry in sensorineural hearing deafness- A hospital based study

Aim and Objective: To evaluate role of Brainstem Evoked Response Audiomerty in assessment of patients of sensorineural hearing loss & to evaluate cases of sensorineural hearing loss to localize the exact size of damage: Cochler, rectocochler. Material and Methods: Type of study: Observational –Cross Sectional. Well informed consent was taken from the patients. Each patient was subjected to ENT & Pediatric examination, whenever necessary prior to test. Patient was instructed to clean the scalp with shampoo & not to apply oil on the day of appointment. The test was started after after patient was sedated and well asleep. The first stimulus was given at 90 dBnHL level (maximum intensity available) an decreased by 10 dBnHL for next run if wave V is present. At each intensity, run efforts were made to identify wave V. Result: In this study threshold & latency measures were obtained form 50 cases (100 ears) by Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry. No restrictions were imposed on age, sex, degree of hearing loss or audiometric configuration. The data was analyzed separately for pediatric age group (36 cases) and Adults (14 cases). Conclusion: BERA is the accurate & reliable estimation of hearing levels in infants and young children. It helps in early identification of hearing impairment and rehabilitative measures can be taken at an early age. In this study BERA was effective in identifying hearing loss thresholds & assessing auditory pathway in infants and children’s in whom behavioral methods and PTA evaluation is not possible and in children with significant prenatal history with risk of developing hearing loss. Keywords: BERA, SNHL.