• Amineh Koravand, Rida Al Osman, Véronique Rivest, and Catherine Poulin.
• Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Program, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada. Electronic address: amineh.koravand@uottawa.ca.
• Int. J. Pediatr. Otorhinolaryngol. 2017 Aug 1; 99: 24-29.

ObjectiveThe main objective of the present study was to investigate subcortical auditory processing in children with sensorineural hearing loss.MethodsAuditory Brainstem Responses (ABRs) were recorded using click and speech/da/stimuli. Twenty-five children, aged 6-14 years old, participated in the study: 13 with normal hearing acuity and 12 with sensorineural hearing loss.ResultsNo significant differences were observed for the click-evoked ABRs between normal hearing and hearing-impaired groups. For the speech-evoked ABRs, no significant differences were found for the latencies of the following responses between the two groups: onset (V and A), transition (C), one of the steady-state wave (F), and offset (O). However, the latency of the steady-state waves (D and E) was significantly longer for the hearing-impaired compared to the normal hearing group. Furthermore, the amplitude of the offset wave O and of the envelope frequency response (EFR) of the speech-evoked ABRs was significantly larger for the hearing-impaired compared to the normal hearing group.ConclusionsResults obtained from the speech-evoked ABRs suggest that children with a mild to moderately-severe sensorineural hearing loss have a specific pattern of subcortical auditory processing. Our results show differences for the speech-evoked ABRs in normal hearing children compared to hearing-impaired children. These results add to the body of the literature on how children with hearing loss process speech at the brainstem level.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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