[Correlation between chirp auditory brainstem response and behavioral hearing threshold in children].

Objective: To investigate the correlation between thresholds in the chirp-ABR and behavior audiogram in order to find out if it is possible to be used as an clinical application of the chirp-ABR in estimating hearing sensitivity.

Methods: Twenty-two cases with hearing loss or normal hearing were enrolled in the study. The behavior audiogram and the response thresholds of chirp ABR (including chirp ABR, L-chirp ABR and U-chirp ABR) were obtained from 35 ears.

Results: Twenty-two cases were of both genders. The age was between 3.3- 6.5-years-old with the average age of 4.8-years-old. Divided by the degree of hearing loss, in the 35 ears, there were 6 with normal hearing, 2 with slightly hearing loss, 4 with moderate hearing loss, 10 with severe hearing loss and 13 with profound hearing loss. The Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.939, 0.900 and 0.930, respectively, which got from the data between the average of 0.5 - 4 kHz and chirp ABR respond threshold, 0.5 kHz and L-chirp ABR, and the average of 1 - 4 kHz and U-chirp ABR.

Conclusion: As an objective test, the response threshold of chirp-ABR and the behavior audiogram were a highly correlated with each other, but more application in more subjects is needed.