All issues > Volume 30(12); 1987

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1987;30(12):1387-1400. Published online December 31, 1987.

Developmental Changes of Auditory Brainstem Responses in Children.

Jeong Sik Min¹, Yeong Ho Ra¹, Chong Woo Bae¹, Sa Jun Chung¹, Chang Il Ahn¹

¹Department of Pediatrics’ Kyung Hee University, School of Medicine

Abstract

Auditory Brainstem Response(ABR) has been found to be useful for evaluating objective assessment of hearing thresholds, maturation of the brainstem and neurological disorders in the brainstem. Therefore it is essential to define normal ranges and accurate changes in the wave form of the ABR in children. This study was undertaken with the analysis of 243 ABR in children with normal otological, developmental, neurological and physical findings, from the age of 1 year old up to the age of 15 years old who were admitted to the Dept, of Pediatrics in Kyung Hee University Hospital during the past one year between June, 1985 and May, 1986. Evoked potentials were recorded from reference electrodes at both ear lobes and active electrode at vertex. The ground electrode was placed at the middle of the forehead at the hairline. The auditory stimuli and frequencies were an intensity of 90 dB above the hearing threshold at a rate of 10 Hz. 2048 brainstem evoked responses were summated on line with a Neuropack II(Nihon Koden Co.) and analyzed the recorded materials with a recorder. The results were as follows: 1) All waves could be recognized in all age groups. 2) Among the normal developmental changes of pattern in each wave peak latencies, mean peak I wave latencies were 1.61 ± 0.17msec in the 1 year old group and 1.32 ± 0.31msec in 11-15 years old group. Mean Peak III wave latencies were 4.18± 0.28msec in the 1 year old group and 3.57 ± 0.30msec in 11-15 years old group. Mean peak V latencies were 6.01 ± 0.31msec in the 1 year old group and 5. 57±0.35msec in the 11-15 years old group. There were significant shortenings of mean peak I，II, ID, IV and V latencies between the 1 year 6 month old group and the 2 years old group. No significant but progressive shortenings were noted above the 2 years old group. 3) Mean I-V interpeak latencies (IPLs) were 4.46±0.21msec in the 1 year old group and 4.28±0.41msec in the 11-15 years old group. Mean I-III IPLs were 2.58 ± 0.43msec in the 1 year old group and 2.26 ± 0.38msec in the 11-15 years old group. There was significant shortening of I-V IPLs between the 1 year and 6 month old group and the 2 years old group. No significnat but progressive shortening of IPLs beyond the 2 years old group were noted. 4) In the changes of amplitudes of peak I，ID and V waves, there were no significant differences throughout all examined groups. The ratio of amplitudes of peak I wave to the amplitudes of peak V wave were over 2.0 in all age groups. 5) In the comparison of both sex, all of the peak latencies, IPLs and amplitude were not significantly different in all age groups.

Keywords :Auditory brainstem Responses;Developmental changes; Childre