Dead regions of the cochlea and hearing aid performance in children

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the occurrence of cochlear dead zones in children with mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss, hearing aids users; to study the correlation between the presence of dead zones and the benefit obtained with the use of amplification. Methods: 15 children with mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss, ranging from 7 to 12 years age, hearing aid users, were evaluated. For the identification of dead zones, the test TEN (Threshold Equalizing Noise) was utilized. The PEACH (Parent´s Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children) questionnaire was applied to the parents or perpetrators in order to verify the performance of the children in real-world situations with amplification. Results: According to the responses to the TEN test was observed 33% of children result suggest the presence of dead zones in the cochlea in one or more frequencies, 33% were negative for cochlear dead zones and 33% responses obtained the TEN test were inconclusive. In the PEACH questionnaire, the group without evidence of dead zones (G1) showed better performance, both in silence and in noise, compared to those with evidence of dead zones (G2) and inconclusive group (G3). Conclusion: The occurrence of children with sensorineural hearing loss and evidence of dead zones was 33% in the sample surveyed. Children with evidence of cochlear dead regions had a poorer performance in all situations of daily life compared with children without evidence of dead regions or inconclusive results in the TEN test, showing less benefit with the use of sound amplification.