Auditory brainstem responses (ABR) in the aged

86 male subjects, aged between 60 and 86 years (M = 69.5), underwent pure-tone audiometry, impedance tests and brainstem response audiometry (BRA). Subjects have been classified into four age-related groups: 1) 34 subjects, aged between 60 and 65; 2) 22, aged between 66 and 70; 3) 22 aged between 71 and 75; 4) 8, aged between 76 and 86. They have also been classified into four groups on the basis of their mean auditory threshold at 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 kHz: 1) 14 subjects with mean auditory threshold ≤30 dB HL; 2) 16, between 31 and 40; 3) 24, between 41 and 50; 4) 32, with mean auditory threshold ≥51 dB HL. 19 normally hearing adults, aged between 28 and 42, were chosen as controls. Statistically significant correlations have been found between age and mean auditory threshold (P≤0.001), between wave latency V and age (P≤0.001), between wave latency V and the mean pure-tone auditory threshold at 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 kHz (P≤0.001) and between the V-I interval and age (P≤0.001). The discrepancy between the mean auditory threshold and the ABR waveform, the overall amplitude's reduction of ABR waves and the progressive lengthening of V-I interval values, seem to indicate that age-related changes involve not only the end organ but also the brainstem auditory structures