Auditory brainstem responses in the aged.

The auditory brainstem responses (ABR) in a group of 74 aged subjects (60-80 years), affected by presbycusis were evaluated for presence of a retrocochlear involvement. The comparison of results from subjects with presbycusis with those from normally-hearing elderly subjects, and young subjects, affected by a cochlear sloping hearing loss, revealed that the latency increase of ABR observed in presbycusis is mainly correlated to the audiometric shape of the hearing loss and not to age per se.