Pediatric's 2nd Exam Flashcards
What are the four main purposes for a pediatric audiologic assessment?
- to obtain a measure of peripheral hearing sensitivity that rules out or confirms hearing loss as a cause of the baby’s or child’s problem
- to confirm the status of the baby’s or child’s middle ear
- to assess auditory functioning using speech perception measures when possible
- to observe and interpret the baby’s or child’s auditory behaviors
Why is using a test battery approach so important?
- furnishes detailed information
- avoids drawing conclusions from a single test
- allows for the identification of multiple pathologies
- provides a comprehensive foundation for observing a child’s auditory behaviors
ASHA recommendation for test protocols birth - (4ish) months of age
- adjusted for prematurity
- primarily physiologic measures of auditory function like ABR
- frequency-specific stimuli to estimate the audiogram
- OAEs and acoustic immittance measures should be used to supplement ABR results
- also perform: case history, parent/caregiver report, behavioral observation of the infant’s responses to a variety of sounds, developmental screening, and functional auditory assessments
ASHA recommendation for test protocols 5-24 months of age
- behavioral assessments should be performed first
- CRA being the behavioral test of choice
- OAEs and ABRs should be assess only when behavioral audiometric tests are unreliable, ear-specific thresholds cannot be obtained, behavioral results are inconclusive or auditory neuropathy is suspected
ASHA recommendation for test protocols 25-60 months of age
- suggests that behavioral tests (VRA or CPA) and acoustic immittance tests are usually sufficient
- speech perception tests should also be performed in combination with developmental screening and functional auditory assessments
The expected outcomes of pediatric audiologic protocols are extensive and include:
- identification of hearing loss
- identification of auditory neuropathy, if present, or of a potential central auditory processing/language disorder
- quantification of hearing status based on behavioral and electrophysiologic tests
- development of a comprehensive report of historical, physical, and audiologic findings, and recommendations for treatment and management
- implementation of a plan for monitoring, surveillance, and habilitation of hearing loss
- provision of family-centered counseling and education
Why is behavioral testing not the preferred method for evaluating hearing & selecting hearing aids in infants birth to 4 months old?
- the prolonged cooperation required from the child
- excessive test time needed
- poor frequency resolution
- poor test-retest reliability
What are some tests used for pediatric assessments?
- Behavioral Observation Audiometry (BOA)
- Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (VRA)
- Conditioned Play Audiometry (CPA)
- Immitance
- Transient Otoacoustic Emissions (TOAE)
- Distortion product OAEs (DPOAE)
- Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR)`
What is the cognitive age range of BOA?
birth - 6 months
What is the cognitive age range of VRA?
5-36 months
What is the cognitive age range of CPA?
30 months to 5 years
Which pediatric assessments can be conducted for any cognitive age?
- immitance
- TOAEs
- DPOAEs
- ABR
What are some benefits of BOA?
- enables the audiologist to obtain valuable behavioral responses in infants, part of the cross-check principle
- testing can be conducted in sound-field, with earphones, with bone oscillator, hearing aids, or cochlear implants
- enables accurate fitting of technology because minimal response levels (MRLS) can be obtained
What are some challenges of BOA?
- requires careful observation of infant sucking on the part of the audiologist
- cannot be used with infants who do not suck (e.g. infants with feeding tubes)
- testing can be performed only when the infant is in a calm awake, or light sleep state
- BOA has t been generally accepting int he audiology community because audiologists typically have no been trained to use a sucking response paradigm
What are some benefits of VRA?
- enables the audiologist to obtain valuable behavioral responses in infants and young children, park of the cross-check principle
- because responses are conditioned, more responses can be obtained in one test session
- testing can be conducted in soundfield, with earphones, with bone oscillator, hearing aids, or cochlear implants
- enables accurate fitting of technology because MRL can be obtained
- the state of the infant or child is less problematic because the child can be more easily be involved in the task
What are some challenges of VRA?
- some children will not accept earphones so obtaining individual ear information can be challenging
What are some benefits of CPA?
- accurate reponses can be obtained at threshold level
- testing can be conducted in sound field, with earphones, with bone oscillator, hearing aids, or cochlear implants
What are some challenges of CPA?
- keeping the child entertained and involved long enough to obtain all the necessary information can be challenging
What are some benefits of immittance?
- provides information about middle ear functioning and about intactness of the auditory system reflex arc
What are some challenges with immittance?
the child must sit still, not speaking or moving during the test battery
What are some benefits of TOAE?
- measures outer hair cell function
- presence of emissions indicates no greater than a mild hearing loss
- contributes to evaluation of the overall function of the auditory system
What are some challenges of the TOAE?
- the infant or child must sit still, not speaking or moving during test battery
- cannot rule out mild hearing loss
What are some benefits of DPOAE?
- measures outer hair cell function
- presence of emissions indicates no greater than a moderate hearing loss
- contributes to evaluation of the overall function of the auditory system
What are some challenges of DPOAE?
- the infant or child must sit still, not speaking during testing
- cannot rule out moderate hearing loss
What are some benefits of ABR?
- tonal ABR provides frequency specific threshold information
- click ABR provides information about the intactness of the auditory pathways, including measures contributing to the diagnosis of auditory neuropathy
What are some challenges of ABR?
- the infant or chid must be asleep, sedated or very still for the duration of testing
- ABR testing is not a direct measure of hearing and is not substitute for behavioral audiologic testing
What are some areas in which information should be obtained in case history?
- birth and prenatal history
- health history
- developmental history
- communication history
- hearing history
- amplification history
- communication history: speech and language
- social history
- educational history
- special services
- other evaluations
What is the expected infant/child response of a BOA?
- change in sucking in response to auditory stimulus; other behavioral changes are not accepted because they usually indicate supra-threshold responses
What is the expected infant/child response to VRA?
- conditioned head turn to a visual reinforcer; usually a lighted animated toy
What is the expected infant/child response to CPA?
- Child performs a motor act in response to hearing a sound (e.g. listen and drop task)
Which tests don’t require a infant/child response?
- immitance
- TOAE
- DPOAE
- ABR
What tests are generally a part of the adult test batter?
- case history
- otoscopy
- immittance measures (as needed)
- pure tone, conventional audiometry (air and bone)
- Speech audiometry (SRT, WRS, SPT)
Pediatric Test Battery
- Case History
- DEPENDS TOTALLY ON KID
- otoscopy
- immitance measures
- OAE
- Puretone audiometry
- Speech audiometry
- ABR, if all else fails
Steps to take before beginning
- Determine Child’s cognitive age
- evaluate child’s physical status
- choose the test room setup
How do you determine a child’s cognitive age?
- case history
- other evaluations
- infant developmental screening scales
How do you evaluate a child’s physical status?
- upper-torso control
- head and neck control
- vision
- ability to mainipulate toys
What are some options for test room setup?
- 1 room/ 1 aud
- 2 room/ 2 and
- 1 aud/ 1 test assist
- 2 rooms/ 1 aud and a parent
Why do you use cognitive age?
- age ranges are good guides, but cognitive age best
- use case history/interaction
- speech/language skills?
- motor development?
- other professional evaluations?
- intuition
What audiological assessment involve physical response?
- BOA
- VRA
- CPA
- this means their physical development comes in to play here
What are the three things you should have completed before you actually begin testing the child?
- determine child’s cognitive age
- evaluate child’s physical status
- chosen the test room setup
What is the goal of behavioral audiometry
- to obtain an ear-specific, frequency-specific description of the child’s hearing
If a hearing loss exists, what is the goal of amplification?
- to make speech sounds audible, we must know what the child hears in order to achieve this goal
What factors could influence the results of hearing test?
- age (developmental)
- Presence of other impairments (cognitive, sensory, or physical)
- language development
- child state (hungry, tired)
- attention span
How could age (developmental) affect a hearing test?
- unconditioned responses, < 5 or 6 months
- —- Behavioral Observation Audiometry (BOA)
- conditioned responses, > 5 or 6 months
- —- Conditioned Orientation Reflex (COR)
- —- Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (VRA)
What testing does ASHA recommend for birth - 6 months?
- ABR, OAE primary
- BOA secondary
What testing does ASHA recommend for 5 - 36 months?
- VRA primary
- ABR, OAE if needed
- Functional assessment tools
What testing does ASHA recommend for 30 months to 5 years?
- CPA or VRA primary
- Speech perception
What factors can influence the outcomes of BOA?
- developmental age
- infant/child state
- observer/judge
- stimuli
- environment
What two things can be affected by the infant variables/state in regards to a BOA test?
- response repertoire
- habituation
What may be in an infant’s response repertoire?
- motor activity
- eye movement
- cessation of movement
- crying
- startle
What are the observer variables of a BOA test?
- observer probably doesn’t affect responses
- observer’s expectations and biases could affect judgement
Judge Reliability in Infant Testing (Moncur, 1968)
- used control trials: observers viewed tapes without knowledge of stimulus
- overall, judges responded “YES” to 30% of trials for which no stimulus had been presented
- the risk of false negative
Behavioral Audiometry Stimuli
- Speech - SRT/SAT
- Pure tones 250 - 8000 Hz
- Transducer Type
- — Soundfield - warbled pure tones/ narrow bands of noise (at least 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 Hz - order may vary depending on needs and expectations
- —- Insert phones - pure tones/ narrow bands/ speech
What is important to keep in mind for your testing environment with kids?
- positioning
- assistant
- transducer
BOA: Test technique
- spend a couple of minutes simply observing the infant in the absence of auditory stimulation
- try to elicit responses using stimuli of low to moderate intensity
- change stimuli to reduce habituation
How does BOA fit into the test battery?
- even if you cannot obtain reliable threshold measures, there is a use for BOA
- preliminary/supplementary data for “objective” tests (ABR)
- provides opportunity for parent or caregiver to observe auditory response behavior
What ages are appropriate for visual reinforcement audiometry?
6 months to 2.5 years
What is VRA?
- child seated (high chair or parent lap) facing forward with sound source placed 45 to 90 degrees from child
- when stimulus presented, look for appropriate head turn toward sound source
- turn on reinforcing toy to promote future head turns
- think pavlov’s dogs
Why would you choose VRA?
- Infants 6 - 30 months of age (always exceptions)
- can get monaural pure-tone thresholds
- reliable
- valid
What are the two steps of VRA protocol?
conditioning & threshold search
What is involved in VRA conditioning?
- stimulus attributes (audibility and salience)
- “criterion” response: head turn
- getting an infant to turn to a signal is easy!
- getting an infant NOT to turn head is hard
What should be kept in mind for VRA threshold search?
- can the examiner bias the outcome?
- do we see what we expect to see?
- can we influence how the infant responds?
How do you know where to start your test?
Case history
How do you get a head turn for VRA?
, direct them to the place to look if you need to
You can’t have a protocol because they are all done – you need to be as quick as possible and get what you can while you can
Rules for NOT making a response
- WAIT, WAIT, WAIT
- The problem with false responses:
- – unreliable threshold estimates
- – the false negative
What is the role of a test assistant?
- visually bring child back to midline to enable examiner to obtain clear response
- minimize distractions in test room
- pitfalls to avoid:
- — cueing child of presence of stimulus
- — interaction that is more interesting than test task
Threshold Assessment
- minimum response levels
- norms and infant-adult differences
- sensory versus non-sensory factors
What is normal hearing for a kid?
10-15 is normal hearing - within normal limits you want to know if they have adequate hearing for learning and developing speech and language
What is a correct response for VRA?
Doesn’t matter which side they turn to when you are doing this testing – you are just looking for a full turn response. They may turn more to the correct side, especially with the headphones
Speakers – “at least the better ear” you can’t specify sides with speakers