ABR

An Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) is a test that can be performed on newborns, infants, young children, and any child that is difficult-to-test. An ABR is a test that measures the electrical activity of your child’s inner ear, nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain and the first part of the brain known as the brainstem. Your child’s Audiologist at ENT for Children can interpret the tracings created by an ABR to establish at what level your infant or child should be able to hear.

To complete an ABR the Audiologist with place a set of stickers on your child’s forehead and behind the ear and a soft probe in their ear canal. The stickers are actually sensors that will detect the electrical activity of your child’s ear. Through the probe the Audiologist is able to deliver series of clicking sounds or tones. Different loudness levels and pitches are tested to determine the softest level that is audible to your child.

If your child will allow the stickers to stay on their forehead and behind the ear and the probe to remain in the ear canal, then the ABR can be completed awake (un-sedated). If not, then completing an ABR will require anesthesia (sedation). We can schedule an un-sedated ABR at our Coppell office. A sedated ABR is conducted under anesthesia at one of the surgery centers or hospitals where our physicians work.

If your child’s ABR is being completed un-sedated plan that the test will take a minimum of 45 minutes but often times takes longer. Testing is dependent on child’s cooperation and amount of information being obtained.