Prevalence of Auditory Neuropathy in a Population of Children with Severe to Profound Hearing Loss

Background: The purpose of this investigation is to determine auditory neuropathy in the students with severe to profound hearing losses in Ahwaz.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 212 children of 7-11 year old with severe to profound hearing loss performed ordinary audiometric evaluations as well as ABR and OAE. The patients with normal DPOAE who had no record of acoustic reflex having normal ABR, were considered as the patients with auditory neuropathy. Results: The neuropathic complication found in 14 children was appeared in 8 ones as one-sided (57.14%) and in 6 ones (42.86%) as two-sided. 68% of the patients as diagnosed had a very low Speech Discrimination Score (SDS).Conclusion: we must be very vigilant in auditory neuropathy diagnosis for the purpose to be successful in appropriate treatment of severe to profound hearing losses.