Auditory brain stem responses in preterm infants: evidence of peripheral maturity.

This study explored further the relationship between peripheral and central auditory maturation on the basis of the auditory brain stem response. Auditory brain stem responses were recorded in preterm infants and adults to rarefaction and condensation click stimuli transduced through insert Tubephones. Infant recordings presented a triphasic waveform preceding wave I similar to that of the cochlear receptor potentials seen with adults during electrocochleography. Wave I latency and amplitude were found to be equivalent to those of adult subjects. Moreover, neither latency nor amplitude variability among infant wave I responses was found to be any greater than adults. Latencies of waves III and V, however, exhibited the expected differences relative to the adult comparison group. When the indirect evidence of cochlear receptor potentials in the infant are viewed adjacent to the observations that their ABR wave I latency, amplitude, and variability were entirely consistent with those of young adults, the data lend strong support for peripheral auditory electromaturity. These data are discussed relative to previously published reports of prolonged wave I latency in the infant which was attributed either to middle ear effects or immaturity of the cochlea and first order VIIIth nerve neurons.