Mar 09
12
Maggi was under sedation for over one hour to have her second set of tubes placed in her ears and an Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test (see information below). The doctors said that Maggi has moderate hearing loss in her right ear, but her left ear showed normal. They want to test her again down the road to see if the hearing in the right ear improves with the new tubes.
An infant is sleeping or sedated for the ABR. An infant may be sleeping naturally or may have to be sedated for this test. Additionally, older, cooperative kids may be tested in a silent environment while they’re visually occupied. Tiny earphones are placed in the ear canals. Usually, click-type sounds are introduced through the earphones, and electrodes measure the hearing nerve’s response to the sounds. A computer averages these responses and displays waveforms. Because there are characteristic waveforms for normal hearing in portions of the speech range, a normal ABR can predict fairly well that a baby’s hearing is normal in that part of the range. An abnormal ABR may be due to hearing loss, but it may also be due to some medical problems or measurement difficulties.
