Cortical Auditory Evoked Potential: Evaluation of Speech Detection in Hearing Aid Users

The utilization of auditory long latency potentials (PEALL) as a type of hearing evaluation is advantageous since measures all the auditory system, can be done in awake patients, the stimulation can be made through earphones or speakers in a free field, and it may include assess users of hearing devices. The PEALL obtained with speech sounds helps in the patients’ habilitation, gives information about all the processing of speech signal, identify alterations in the discrimination, and detection in individuals who are unable to perform behavioral assessments. The aim of this study was to compare the latencies of long-latency electrophysiological potentials to speech sounds presented in free field in hearing impaired adults with and without amplification. This study evaluated 22 adults aged between 19 and 76 years, with symmetrical, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss of moderate to severe, bilateral hearing aid users for at least 1 year. The automatic registration of PEALL by the equipment was performed using three speech stimulus of low (/m/), medium (/g/), and high (/t/) frequencies presented in decreasing intensities of 75, 65, and 55 dB NPS with and without the use of hearing devices. The results showed that the mean latencies of P1, N1, and P2 decreased with increasing intensity of the signal and with use of hearing aids for three sounds /m/, /g/, and /t/. The differences were significant for the sounds /t/ and /g/ in comparison with and without hearing aids.