Associations of standard and extended high-frequency thresholds with suprathreshold auditory brainstem response morphology in normal-hearing adults.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional observational study
PubMed 41679009 · doi:10.1016/j.heares.2026.109564
What was done
A cross-sectional study evaluated 89 otologically healthy adults (all but one had clinically normal thresholds <= 20 dB HL across standard frequencies). Authors evaluated the predictive utility of Global Standard Averages (0.125-8 kHz) versus extended high-frequency (EHF) thresholds (9-20 kHz) for suprathreshold auditory brainstem response (ABR) latencies and amplitudes using multiple linear regression controlling for age and sex.
What was found
EHF threshold averages remained a significant independent predictor of ABR Wave I amplitude (β = -0.28, p = .015) after controlling for age and sex. In contrast, Wave V latency was predicted by biological sex (β = -0.30, p = .006) and standard high-frequency sensitivity (4-8 kHz), not EHF thresholds. Analyses of the Wave V/I amplitude ratio showed no age-related central gain.
Why it matters
These results demonstrate that extended high-frequency sensitivity reflects distal auditory nerve synchrony even when standard audiograms are normal, supporting EHF audiometry for detecting subclinical auditory deficits.
Limits
The study is cross-sectional and limited to a modest sample of 89 healthy adults, precluding causal inference. The abstract does not report functional outcomes such as speech-in-noise perception, longitudinal change, or exact baseline demographic distributions.
Cited by
- supports Standard clinical hearing tests evaluate frequencies up to 8 kHz, although human hearing can detect frequencies up to 20,000 Hz.