Author/Editor		Marn, Borut
Title		Evocirani potenciali možganskega debla in spremembe sluha pri prezbiakuziji
Translated title		Evoked brainstem potentials and hearing impairment in presbyacusis
Type		članek
Source		Med Razgl
Vol. and No.		Letnik 39, št. Suppl 3
Publication year		2000
Volume		str. 349-54
Language		cro
Abstract		Changes due to presbyacusis are described at all levels of the auditory system, but it is not known where the changes are the most frequent, whether the localisation of the impairment is changing with the increase of age, and what impairment is the most responsible for the decreasing of speech intelligibility. By the method of random sampling, 109 subjects older than 60 (72'% of them being females) divided into four groups, were tested. The auditory tests were: pure tone audiometry, difference limen for pitch and for duration in acoustics, brainstem evokcd response audiometry, testing of speech intelligibility in quiet and in noise for phonetically balanced word lists, and for sentences pronounced at the normal rate, sentences distorted by the time-compression technique and sentences in rapid alternating speech perception test. Comparison of test results and statistical analysis of results showed that by the increase of age, the peripheral auditory level becomes impaired, especially because of the impairment of receptors; standard speech audiometry mostly corresponds to the receptors impairment and is quite insensitive to the detection of hearing central disorders. Testing of speech intelligibility for words in noise, for time-distorted sentences and for rapid alternating sentences were the best indicators of central presbyacusis. Brainstem evoked response audiometry and its comparison with the other findings showed that the deterioration of intelligibility most often is not the consequence of neural changes in the spiral ganglion and the changes at the brainstem level. The changes at this level appear rather rarely. With the increasing age cortical hearing impairment grows worse and it seems that it is the main reason for speech intelligibility deterioration in presbyacusis. Subcortical changes are significantly weaker and only indirectly connected to other changes of the central auditory system. (Abstract truncated at 2000 characters).
Descriptors		EVOKED POTENTIALS, AUDITORY, BRAIN STEM PRESBYCUSIS SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY AUDIOMETRY AUDITORY DISEASES, CENTRAL