ORIGINAL ARTICLE
ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO SPEECH STIMULI IN CHILDREN WITH OTITIS MEDIA
 
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1
Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
 
2
Clinic of Audiology and ENT, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
 
3
Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw, Poland
 
4
Medical University of Warsaw, Dept. of Heart Failure and Cardiac Rehabilitation, Poland.
 
5
Institute of Sensory Organs, Kajetany, Poland
 
 
A - Research concept and design; B - Collection and/or assembly of data; C - Data analysis and interpretation; D - Writing the article; E - Critical revision of the article; F - Final approval of article;
 
 
Publication date: 2017-12-31
 
 
Corresponding author
Milaine Dominici Sanfins   

Milaine Dominici Sanfins, Faculty Medical Science, UNICAMP Rua Tessália Vieira de Camargo, 185., CEP: 13083-887, Campinas/SP. Brazil, Email: msanfins@uol.com.br or misanfins@uol.com.br, Phone: +55 11 97060-3838
 
 
J Hear Sci 2017;7(4):9-19
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Background:
Otitis media in childhood may result in changes in auditory information processing and speech perception. Once a failure in decoding information has been detected, an evaluation can be performed by auditory evoked potential as FFR.

Material and Methods:
60 children and adolescents aged 8 to 14 years were included in the study. The subjects were assigned into two groups: a control group (CG) consisted of 30 typically developing children with normal hearing; and an experimental group (EG) of 30 children, also with normal hearing at the time of assessment, but who had a history of secretory otitis media in their first 6 years of life and who had undergone myringotomy with placement of bilateral ventilation tubes. Each group was sub-divided into two age subgroups: 8–10 and 11–14 years. All children completed audiological evaluation (audiometry, speech audiometry, and immitance audiometry) and electrophysiological assessment.

Results:
The subjects who participated in the study presented behavioral thresholds and click-ABR within normal limits (p > 0.05). No differences were observed in the FFR responses from different age groups (8–10 years and 11–14 years). Significant differences in FFR were observed in the latency values (p < 0.05) when compared to control group, although amplitude values did not show significant differences between groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusions:
Children suffering from secretory otitis media in their first 6 years of life and who have undergone myringotomy for bilateral ventilation tube placement exhibit changes in their electrophysiological responses to speech. Keywords Frequency-following response; otitis media, speech perception, electrophysiology

FUNDING
This work was supported by the Project “Integrated system of tools for diagnostics and telerehabilitation of sensory organs disorders (hearing, vision, speech, balance, taste, smell)” acr. INNOSENSE, co-financed by the National Centre for Research and Development (Poland), within the STRATEGMED program. Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (FAPESP), CAPES and CNPq. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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