[Acoustic reflex as one of the indicators of the maturity of the functioning of the auditory analyzer].

The acoustic reflex is a physiological protective mechanism of the sound-conducting system of the auditory analyzer, which allows to identify various retrocochlear lesions of the human auditory system. The absence of its registration may indicate both pathology and immaturity of the auditory analyzer in children of the first year of life.

Objective: To register the acoustic reflex in children of the first year of life, to identify a full-fledged acoustic reflex at various frequencies and to analyze the dependence of its appearance on the timing of gestation.

Material and methods: The study included 420 children (840 ears). The children are distributed relative to the gestation period at birth and age at the time of examination. After determining the normal auditory function, the initial and final acoustic reflex latency was studied in all children. The acoustic reflex was taken into account only when registering the initial and final latency, otherwise an acoustic reaction was recorded.

Results: It has been shown that the registration of an acoustic reflex depends on both the age and gestation period, as well as on the frequency of the stimulating tone.

Conclusion: Acoustic reflex is not registered even by the age of 12 months in all children of the first year of life, which must be taken into account when conducting acoustic reflexometry.