Acoustic Brainstem Responses - ABR
ABR is mainly used to confirm a hearing loss in children who fail an OAE test.
This test is also used to in adults to investigate illnesses of the hearing nerve and also to confirm hearing loss in medico legal cases.
This test requires that the patient is asleep. The skin is cleaned on the forehead and on the earlobes. Electrodes are placed over the clean surface. Headphones are placed over the ears and sound is transmitted to the patient. The electrodes measure the response of the hearing nerve to the sound.
The test is completely painless and may require that medication be given to cause the child to sleep. For young children the need for medication can be eliminated by feeding the child just before you come for test, as young children often sleep after a meal or are more relaxed. An attempt can also be made to synchronise the test time with the baby’s natural sleeping time. For older children we advice the parents to let the child stay up late the night before and to wake up early on the day of the test, so that the child is tiered and sleepy when they come to the clinic.
The test is completely safe and has been used worldwide for many years.
With a normal hearing classical reproducible ABR waves are obtained. With hearing loss the sound required to obtain the waves is much higher; in profound hearing loss no ABR waves are obtained.
The ABR test is fully computerised and results are obtained within an hour and are interpreted by the doctor.
Find out how well you hear.