Document Type : Review Article
Authors
1
epartment of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2
Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Purpose:
The use of objective electrophysiological tests of hearing with the approaches of threshold estimation, otoneurology diagnosis, as well as evaluating the usefulness of hearing prostheses, including hearing aids and cochlear implants, have been of interest to clinicians and researchers in the field of hearing sciences since the beginning. Among the existing objective hearing tests, the recording of auditory late responses (ALRs) is a sign of detecting auditory stimuli in the auditory cortical areas and provides information on the correct functioning of the cortical and subcortical auditory areas. This information cannot be obtained using objective and routine tests such as auditory brainstem responses (ABRs). The purpose of the present study is to review the practical and multiple approaches of this tool in the test battery approach in order to evaluate the hearing system of children and adults and the usefulness of rehabilitation in hearing impaired individuals.
Methods:
This study is a narrative review and searches for sources using the keywords "cortical auditory evoked potentials", "auditory late responses", "N1-P2", "hearing aids", "cochlear implantation", "auditory training", and "auditory threshold" between the period of 2000 and 2023 in Google Scholar, PubMed, SID, and Magiran databases were performed.
Results:
Among the studies found, duplicates were removed and those with available full text were used in this study. By evaluating the results obtained from them, the use of ALRs in estimating the hearing threshold of children and adults is confirmed, and this test can be used to evaluate the usefulness of the chosen rehabilitation strategy, including hearing aid, cochlear implantation, and auditory training.
Conclusion:
The study showed that ALRs are a useful tool for evaluating the cortical auditory areas and can, along with other electrophysiological hearing tests such as ABRs, provide more awareness in a wider range of the auditory system, especially for diagnostic approaches and evaluation of the usefulness of rehabilitation interventions, especially at a young age, for therapists.
Keywords