Test-retest reliability of acoustic reflex test in 6-Week-Old healthy infants

The aim of this study was to investigate the test-retest reliability of acoustic reflex (AR) test measured from a group of 6-week-old infants who passed a transient evoked otoacoustic emission test and an automated auditory brainstem response screening test. Ipsilateral acoustic reflex thresholds for a 2 kHz pure tone and broadband noise were recorded from 70 infants using a Madsen Otoflex Diagnostic Immittance meter with a probe tone of 1000 Hz. The mean AR thresholds obtained in the first test were 67.3 and 80.9 dB HL for the broadband noise and 2 kHz tone, respectively. The results for the retest condition did not differ significantly from those of the first test. The AR test also showed high test-retest reliability as demonstrated by intracorrelation coefficients across the test-retest conditions of 0.783 and 0.780 for the broadband noise and 2 kHz pure tone stimuli, respectively. Findings from this study suggest that the AR test could be used to establish reliable AR thresholds in 6-week-old infants.