THE AUTOMATED PREDICTION OF HEARING THRESHOLDS IN SLEEPING SUBJECTS USING AUDITORY STEADY-STATE EVOKED-POTENTIALS

Objective: To examine the relationship between auditory steady-state e voked potentials (SSEPs) and behavioral thresholds in sleeping subject s. Design: 60 adults and children with hearing thresholds ranging from normal to profound were selected on the basis of appropriate audiogra ms. Behavioral audiograms were determined at the octave frequencies 25 0-4000 Hz. These behavioral thresholds were then compared with the SSE P thresholds obtained during natural sleep for adults, or natural or s edated sleep for children. Results: A strong relationship between beha vioral and SSEP thresholds was observed. The strength of the relations hip increased with increasing frequency and increasing degree of the l oss. On the basis of these data, the prediction of behavioral threshol ds from SSEP levels was determined. It was found that the standard dev iation of the error in this prediction decreased with increasing frequ ency and increasing degree of the loss, There was no significant age e ffect in the results obtained at any of the frequencies. Conclusion: T he results suggest that the SSEP technique can be used as a predictor of behavioral thresholds in adults and children at the frequencies 250 -4000 Hz.