[ABR evaluation of children with cheilopalatognathus].

OBJECTIVE

To study the characteristics of hearing loss in children with cheilopalatognathus.

METHOD

Sixty-eight children (136 ears) with cleft palate and 70 children (140 ears) with cleft lip were tested with ABR. They were divided into three groups according to the age (<6 months, 6-12 months, 13-24 months). Other 80 age-matched healthy children were enrolled in the control group. The ABR results were compared between the three groups and the control group.

RESULT

Hearing loss was found in 91.9% of children with cleft palate and in 89.3% with cheilopalatognathus, the majority of which was moderate or severe. When comparing to the control group, the latency values of waves I, III and V were prolonged and the threshold of wave V was elevated. No significant difference of the transmission time between wave I and wave V was found between the children under one year old with cleft palate or cheilopalatognathus and the children in the control group With aging, the inducing rate of threshold in children with cleft palate and the inducing rate of waves I, III and V in children with cheilopalatognathus were elevated.

CONCLUSION

The majority of children with cheilopalatognathus has hearing loss. Because the central nervous system of infants is at the developing stage, a continuously evaluation of hearing is needed.