Abstract
With the purpose to determine the reliability of the results obtained by PGSR audiometry-in young children, as there are many conflicting opinions on such results, the author examined by play audiometry, startle reflex test, and PGSR audiometry 23 young children with severe hearing- loss, whose age ranged from one year and nine months to 5 years and eleven months and who could not be tested by the routine subjective hearing test and who had difficulty in speaking.
Twenty three children were tested and results by both PGSR and play audiometry were obta-ined in 11 children. The difference in hearing loss by these two methods were within ±5db in 55 per cent of the cases at 500cps, 70 per cent at 1, 000cps, 67 per cent at 2, 000cps, and 75 per cent at 4, 000cps.
Those with whom PGSR audiometry was appliable were 16 children out of 23 children in the- age range of one year and nine months to 5 years and eleven months. Those who successfully taken the play audiometry test were 13 children out of the group of 23 in the age range of 3 years and 6 months to 5 years and 11 months.
PGSR audiometry has been proved to be a more satisfactory test for younger children than the play audiometry. Compered with play audiometry or startle reflex test, the results show a consi-derably more reliability and it is an excellent method for the examination of the hearing acuity-in younger children with severe hearing loss, who are extremely difficult to test by other methods.
