Estimating Hearing Thresholds Using Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) test for estimating hearing thresholds with a clinical auditory evoked potential (AEP) system. Method: Thirty individuals whose hearing thresholds were not ≥ 25 dB HL (aged 20–53 years) and 20 individuals who are hard of hearing (aged 22–80 years) participated in this study. Behavioral hearing thresholds were obtained from participants in both groups. CAEPs for 500-, 1000-, 2000-, and 4000-Hz tone bursts were recorded using a two-channel clinical AEP system. Results: The mean CAEP and behavioral threshold difference for participants whose hearing thresholds are within 25 dB HL was ≤ 15 dB, and for individuals who are hard of hearing, it was ≤ 10 dB. There was no significant effect of test frequency in CAEP and behavioral threshold differences. Similar findings have been reported in the literature. Conclusions: The CAEP thresholds closely match behavioral thresholds in adults with and without hearing loss. The findings of our study suggest that using a clinical AEP system may allow for the estimation of hearing thresholds using the CAEP test in adults.