Air-bone gap estimated with multiple auditory steady-state response in young children with otitis media with effusion

Objective: Multiple auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs) to air- and bone-conduction stimuli were recorded in young children with otitis media with effusion (OME). After treatment for OME, differences between pre-treatment bone-conduction ASSR levels and post-treatment conditioned orientation reflex (CUR) or air-conduction ASSR levels were examined, and compared with ASSR-estimated air-bone gap (ABG) before treatment. Methods: Navigator Pro with Master was used to assess the threshold of air- and bone-conduction ASSR in both ears at 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz and 4000 Hz. For bone-conduction ASSR, RadioEar B-71 bone-vibrator placed on the mastoid was used with white-noise masking on the contralateral ear. Results: After ventilation tube placement, the thresholds of CUR got closer to those of pre-treatment bone-conduction ASSR in young children with OME. Moreover, post-treatment air-conduction ASSR thresholds also got closer to those of pre-treatment bone-conduction ASSR. The differences between pretreatment bone-conduction ASSR thresholds and post-treatment CUR or air-conduction ASSR thresholds became much smaller than ASSR-estimated ABG before treatment. Conclusion: These findings suggest that bone-conduction ASSR can assess the normal or near normal cochlear sensitivity in young children with conductive hearing loss. It is also suggested that ASSR-estimated ABG can be used clinically to predict their accurate ABG. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.