What Is a BAER Hearing Test?
BAER (Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response) testing is usually performed if your infant has failed their otoacoustic emissions (OAE) testing unless your child was born prematurely. The BAER hearing test for babies can also be used if there is any reason that standard hearing tests cannot be performed. Head sensors and earphones evaluate your infant’s auditory nerve, cochlear, and hearing pathways to the brain.
What the test looks like
BAER testing is not painful and can be performed while your child sleeps or rests with their eyes closed. However, movement and tension can cause false abnormalities in the test, so if your child cannot relax, it will be sedated.
- Sensors (electrodes) are placed on the person’s forehead, scalp, and earlobes
- Small earphones or headphones are put inside of each ear
- After all the equipment is in place a series of clicks, hisses, and other sounds are played.
- The brain’s response to these sounds are recorded (through the electrodes)
During BAER testing, no response from your child is necessary. The sensors pasted onto their head detect brain activity while noises are being played into your child’s ears through the earphones. The test will not check their ability to hear different levels of noises, as only one tone and one volume is used.
How the test is evaluated
The head sensors generate a graph with 7 major waveforms as the stimuli (sounds played in the earphone) travels from the ear to the brain. An audiologist reviews the results by evaluating the latency (distance or time between peaks of the waves) and amplitude (height of the waves). While there are 7 waves, only waves I, III, V are significant in determining any abnormalities. The audiologist will then either provide you with either a pass or fail result for the BAER hearing test.
