AN IMPROVED PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSING ABR LATENCY IN YOUNG SUBJECTS BASED ON A NEW NORMATIVE DATA SET

Auditory brainstem response (ABR) latencies in normal young and very y oung subjects are longer than in mature subjects. Use of adult norms i n the assessment of young subjects may therefore result in the erroneo us reporting of abnormalities in subjects who are in no way impaired. In this study a new normative data set was established by measuring AB R absolute and interpeak latencies in 374 subjects in different age gr oups with normal ABR and no risk factor for hearing impairment or neur ological abnormality. Double exponential functions were fitted to a nu mber of latency measures derived from the data and from those function s a table of correction values was computed. The variability in the me asurements of the children is greater than that of the adults. Procedu res are proposed which enable the assessment of abnormality of ABR lat encies to be made for all subjects regardless of age.