Low-frequency hearing loss: auditory brainstem response-derived band analysis.

Conventional (0.125-8 kHz) and high-frequency (8-20 kHz) audiometry, together with brainstem response audiometry supplemented with derived-band studies have been performed in 6 patients with sensorineural hearing loss: 1 with narrow-band, 3-4 kHz, and 5 with low-frequency threshold elevations. The derived-band results in the latter indicate that the low-frequency audiometric thresholds are spurious, and represent the low-frequency tails of viable high-frequency neurons. Threshold preservation in the 4- to 8-kHz frequency band proved necessary for generation of a normal auditory brainstem response at suprathreshold stimulus levels.