Correlation between Frequency-Specific Chirp Auditory Steady-State Responses and Pure Tone Audiometry in Adults

Objective To analyse the correlation between chirp-ASSR thresholds and pure tone audiometry to investigate its values in hearing evaluation.Methods Normal hearing subjects(age:20~60 years,151 ears) and patients with sensorineural hearing loss(age:22~82 years,83 ears) were tested with pure tone audiometry and Chirp-ASSR at 0.5,1,2 and 4 kHz.The threshold data were statistically analyzed.Results In normal hearing subjects,the correlation coefficients between chirp-ASSR thresholds and pure tone audiometry at 0.5,1,2 and 4 kHz were 0.19,0.43,0.58 and 0.68 respectively,and 0.68,0.84,0.87 and 0.84 in patients with sensorineural hearing loss.After correction,the difference between Chirp-ASSR thresholds and pure tone audiometry at 0.5~4 kHz was reduced in both normal and patient groups.Conclusions There is significant correlation between Chirp-ASSR thresholds and pure tone audiometry at 0.5~4 kHz.The correlation coefficients is inferior in normal hearing subjects than in patients with sensorineural hearing loss with a minimum at 0.5 kHz.Chirp-ASSR is proven to be a valid technique for objective estimation of hearing.