How does conductive hearing loss affect BAEP results?

Conductive hearing loss primarily affects the transmission of sound to the inner ear, leading to a reduction in the efficiency of sound conduction. This type of hearing loss does not typically influence the neural pathways involved in auditory processing, which means that the overall timing of neural responses can remain largely unchanged.

In the context of Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials (BAEP), absolute latency is the time taken for auditory signals to travel from the point of stimulus presentation to specific points within the auditory pathway measured by the electrodes. In cases of conductive hearing loss, the decreased efficiency in sound conduction means that the brain receives signals that have taken longer to arrive, which results in increased absolute latency. However, inter-peak latencies, which measure the time between different auditory processing points in the brainstem, may not show significant changes because the underlying neural processing remains intact. Therefore, while absolute latency is increased, inter-peak latencies are often unchanged.

This understanding is crucial as it helps in distinguishing the effects of different types of hearing loss on auditory pathway measurements, leading to more accurate diagnoses and treatment planning.