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. 2019 Feb;12(1):58-65.
doi: 10.21053/ceo.2018.00017. Epub 2018 Aug 24.

Auditory Deficits in Patients With Mild and Moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Speech Syllable Evoked Auditory Brainstem Response Study

Qiuyang Fu  1 , Tao Wang  2 , Yong Liang  3 , Yong Lin  4 , Xiangdong Zhao  1 , Jian Wan  1 , Suxiao Fan  1
Affiliations

Auditory Deficits in Patients With Mild and Moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Speech Syllable Evoked Auditory Brainstem Response Study

Qiuyang Fu et al. Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Objectives: The energy consumption process of cochlea and neural signal transduction along the auditory pathway are highly dependent on blood oxygen supply. At present, it is under debate on whether the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) would affect the auditory function since the patients suffer from low oxygen saturation. Moreover, it is difficult to detect the functional state of auditory in less severe stage of OSAS. Recently, speech-evoked auditory brainstem response (speech-ABR) has been reported to be a new electrophysiological tool in characterizing the auditory dysfunction. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the auditory processes in adult patients with mild and moderate OSAS by speech-ABR.

Methods: An experimental group of 31 patients with mild to moderate OSAS, and a control group without OSAS diagnosed by apnea hypopnea index in polysomnogram were recruited. All participants underwent otologic examinations and tests of pure-tone audiogram, distortion product otoacoustic emissions, click-evoked auditory brainstem response (click-ABR) and speech-ABR, respectively.

Results: The results of pure-tone audiogram, distortion product otoacoustic emissions, and click-ABR in OSAS group showed no significant differences compared with the control group (P>0.05). Speech-ABRs for OSAS participants and controls showed similar morphological waveforms and typical peak structures. There were significant group differences for the onset and offset transient peaks (P<0.05), where OSAS group had longer latencies for peak V (6.69± 0.33 ms vs. 6.39±0.23 ms), peak C (13.48±0.30 ms vs. 13.31±0.23 ms), and peak O (48.27±0.39 ms vs. 47.60± 0.40 ms) compared to the control group. The latency of these peaks showed significant correlations with apnea hypopnea index for peak V (r=0.37, P=0.040), peak C (r=0.36, P=0.045), as well as peak O (r=0.55, P=0.001).

Conclusion: These findings indicate that some auditory dysfunctions may be present in patients with mild and moderate OSAS, and the damages were aggravated with the severity of OSAS, which suggests that speech-ABR may be a potential biomarker in the diagnosis and evaluation at early stage of OSAS.

Keywords: Apnea Hypopnea Index; Auditory Brainstem Response; Hypoxia; Obstructive Sleep Apnea; Speech Syllable.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Apnea hypopnea index (AHI) results of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome subjects, where level axis represented AHI number, and plumb axis indicated sum of AHI number.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Comparison of speech-evoked auditory brainstem response in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) patients and control subjects.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Transient portion of speech-evoked auditory brainstem response in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) patients and control subjects.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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