Case Report
Year: 2019 | Month: March | Volume: 9 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 327-332
Auditory Brainstem Response Characteristics in Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy Secondary to Periventricular Leukomalacia - A Single Case Illustration
Arya S.S1, Divya M2, Neethu Mol P S2, Sreebha Sreedhar1
1Senior Lecturer, National Institute of Speech and Hearing, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
28th Semester, Bachelor of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, National Institute of Speech and Hearing, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
Corresponding Author: Arya S.S
ABSTRACT
Auditory behaviours and objective audiological findings have limited clarity to explain the underlying pathological conditions in children with periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). The purpose of this study was to examine auditory brainstem response (ABR) characteristics in a child with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) secondary to PVL and to discuss correlation between behavioural observation audiometry (BOA) and ABR findings. Audiological evaluations consisted of BOA, immittance audiometry, ABR and cochlear microphonics followed by a detailed case history. Informal observation of auditory behaviours was also carried out with verbal and non-verbal stimuli. Behavioural responses in terms of informal and BOA results found to be correlated well nevertheless, ABR findings indicated poor correlation with behavioural responses. In the test results, it had been evident that ABR findings were over estimating the actual hearing thresholds of the child. The neurological conditions underlying CP will affect myelination process of the central and peripheral nervous system. The changes in myelination process and altered neural firing may have disturbed the ABR finding. Disorders affecting neural maturation and synchronized firing are among the common neurological impairment seen in children with CP and there for the pathological conditions alter their responses in multiple ways.
Key words: ABR, Periventricular leukomalacia, Cerebral Palsy, Behavioural Observation Audiometry, Cochlear Microphonics