Click Rate Induced Facilitation of Acoustic Reflex in Children with Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Abstract

The aim of the study was to observe improvement in acoustic reflex threshold when click rates are varied from 50clicks/sec to 300 clicks/sec while presenting constant number of clicks across different repetition rates in children with sensorineural hearing loss. the study consist of 30 ears with normal hearing sensitivity and 30 ears with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss within the age range of 5-10 years were included in the study. The acoustic reflex threshold was measured at each repetition rate from 50, 100, 150, 200and 300 click per second and improvement in the acoustic reflex threshold between 50 clicks/sec and 300/sec was calculated to check for rate induced facilitation. Results revealed, Improvement in the ART was lesser in children with sensorineural hearing loss compared to children with normal hearing sensitivity. Maximum improvement was seen when the rate was increased from 50/sec to 100/sec compared to higher rates. Thus, it can be concluded from the study that, Rate induced facilitation of acoustic reflex using clicks can be used as an objective test to verify temporal integration in children with sensorineural hearing loss, however, presence of stapedial reflex is a primary criteria to use this objective test. This objective method can overcome limitations of behavioural assessment to assess temporal processing.