Objectives: The aim of this work was to evaluate the residual hearing in children with sensorineural hearing loss and absent ABR waves by ASSR to select the appropriate way for intervention either the use of hearing aid or cochlear implant.
Patients and methods: Forty children (80 ears) were included in this study in the period from May 2019 up to April 2020. All children had detailed complete history taking, otoscopic examination, immittancemetry, hearing assessment to get an accurate frequency specific threshold with play audiometry, behavioral observation audiometry, and evoked audiometry including ABR, TEOAEs, and ASSR.
Results: Forty hearing impaired children with ages ranged from 1 to 5 years old, 22 were males and 18 were female. ASSR response was obtained from 53 ears, and 27 ears showed no response. The ASSR showed a better response at low-frequency regions when compared to the high-frequency regions but with no statistically significant difference.
Conclusions: The absence of click-ABR waves and behavioral free-field responses do not rule out the presence of residual hearing. ASSR was done to estimate the residual hearing mainly at low-frequency regions.