The Use of Heart Rate in the Audiological Evaluation of Nonverbal Children – Part II. Clinical Trials on an Infant Population

Heart rate change in response to band-limited noise was studied as a technique for assessing auditory function in a group of normal infants 6 weeks - 9 months old. A prototype of a computerized device for delivering stimuli and averaging response over trials was employed as the experimental apparatus. It was found that under ordinary treatment room conditions, responses were obtained at the screening intensity of 34 dB SPL for most subjects. Three subjects appeared on the basis of repeated tests to have elevated auditory thresholds. Total testing time for obtaining heart rate responses to the screening stimulus was approximately 20 min. These results suggest that efficient clinical screening for level of auditory function in pre-verbal children is feasible when suitable instrumentation is used.

Audiometric screening - heart rate audiometer - infants