妊娠と小児の健康に関するジャーナル

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Early, Mid, and Late-Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials During Pregnancy: Two Cases

Samuel R Atcherson and Sarah W Kennett

Objective: There are various known hormone-related effects on audiometric thresholds and other auditory measures; however, research is scarce and mixed on the effect of pregnancy on the early-, mid-, and late-latency auditory evoked responses in a longitudinal fashion. Of clinical importance is to know whether electrophysiologic measures during pregnancy may further alter the results of, or mask, an already existing auditory disorder, which could complicate interpretation.

Study design: We briefly review the literature on the effect of pregnancy on auditory evoked potentials. In addition, we take the non-medical, allied health perspective and describe electrophysiological data collected in a longitudinal manner throughout the course of two healthy pregnancies (non-otosclerotic and non-preeclamptic) and 1-month post-partum in one participant with normal hearing and in another with stable mild-to-moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss.

Results: Early- and late-latency responses had little to no change during pregnancy for both participants; however, middle-latency responses were quite varied for the participant with normal hearing.

Conclusions: Auditory evoked potentials during pregnancy deserve further investigation, particularly in a longitudinal manner.