Department of Audiology Faculty Articles

The HEARLab Cortical Tone Evaluation (CTE) Protocol: A Clinical Feasibility Study

ORCID

0000-0003-4997-0270, 0000-0001-6770-4377, 0000-0001-8330-9078

Publisher

Institute of Sensory Organs

ISSN

2084-3127

Publication Date

3-2016

Keywords

auditory brainstem response (ABR) protocol, clinical study, cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs), hearing, HEARLab Cortical Tone Evaluation (CTE)

Abstract

Background:

Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) have been shown to demonstrate high correlations with pure-tone behavioral thresholds when using research protocols. However, experience using the HEARLab cortical tone evaluation (CTE) procedure clinically in sites independent of the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) remains limited. This study aimed to assess the clinical feasibility of the CTE protocol using the HEARLab system to estimate pure-tone behavioral thresholds at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz.

Material and Methods:

This is a preliminary prospective study designed to compare behavioral hearing thresholds with air conduction CTE of 12 adults (8 with normal hearing and 4 with sensorineural hearing loss). A cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) threshold protocol was modeled after an existing auditory brainstem response (ABR) protocol used in-house. A t-test was used to identify differences between pure-tone behavioral thresholds and CTE thresholds.

Results:

Depending on frequency and intensity, CTEs varied from pure-tone behavioral thresholds by as much as 11.2 dB. The average test time to obtain CTEs at four frequencies per ear for 12 participants was 50.85 minutes (SD=12.0). Implications for inter-test reliability of the CTE protocol are discussed.

Conclusions:

The HEARLab CTE protocol is feasible for predicting pure-tone behavioral thresholds in those with normal hearing or with hearing loss. The CTE procedure is a useful alternative tool when behavioral threshold testing is neither possible nor practical.

DOI

10.17430/901713

Volume

6

First Page

54

Last Page

62

Disciplines

Communication Sciences and Disorders | Medicine and Health Sciences | Speech and Hearing Science | Speech Pathology and Audiology

Peer Reviewed

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