The audiological characteristics of infant auditory neuropathy patients
without otoacoustic emission: A retrospective clinical study
Abstract
Objective: To explore the audiological characteristics of infant
auditory neuropathy (AN) patients with cochlear microphonic (CM)
recorded but no otoacoustic emission (OAE) response and clinically
reduce the rate of missed diagnosis of AN. Design: Retrospective
clinical study of medical data from 2003 to 2020. Setting:
Otolaryngology head and neck surgery clinical hearing center.
Participants: Eighteen infant AN patients with CM present and distortion
product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) absent in both ears were OAE absent
group. Forty-four infant AN patients with CM and DPOAE present in both
ears were OAE present group. Main outcome measures: Audiological
characteristics. Results: 1. The age of onset in OAE absent group was
0.9 (0.02) years old, which was less than 1.11 (1.63) years old in OAE
present group (P=0.041). 2. The CM threshold of OAE absent group was 80
(10) dB nHL, which was significantly higher (P<0.001) than OAE
present group. CM amplitude were smaller (P<0.05), and CM
duration were shorter (P<0.05) in OAE absent group. 3. The
thresholds of auditory steady-state response (ASSR) at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4
kHz were 94 (10), 94 (10), 87 (20) and 81 (10) dB HL cg respectively in
OAE absent group, which were higher than those in OAE present group
(P<0.01). Conclusions: Infant AN patients with CM present and
OAE absent showed earlier onset, worse hearing level and worse CM
performance. The influencing factors and value of CM in AN patients
still need to be explored in the future.