Advanced Diagnostics & Troubleshooting Flashcards
7 cards from real ABA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Advanced Diagnostics & Troubleshooting flashcards as text
A patient with Type B tympanogram on the left ear has large ear canal volume (ECV >2.0 mL). What does this finding suggest?
Answer: Tympanic membrane perforation
A Type B tympanogram with large ECV indicates the probe is measuring the combined volume of the ear canal plus the middle ear space, consistent with a tympanic membrane perforation.
During bone-conduction ABR testing, the audiologist must use masking noise in the contralateral ear to prevent:
Answer: Transcranial transmission producing a response from the non-test ear
Bone-conducted sound transmits readily across the skull, potentially stimulating the non-test cochlea and producing a false response; contralateral masking ensures the response is from the intended ear.
Stacked ABR is most useful for detecting:
Answer: Small vestibular schwannomas missed by conventional ABR
Stacked ABR sums responses across cochlear frequency regions, increasing sensitivity for small tumors on the auditory nerve that may not prolong standard interpeak latencies.
A patient reports fluctuating hearing loss and aural fullness. VEMP testing shows enhanced cVEMP amplitude on the symptomatic side. This is most consistent with:
Answer: Superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD)
SSCD creates a 'third window' effect that enhances sound-induced saccular stimulation, producing larger-than-normal cVEMP amplitudes on the affected side.
An audiologist notices that pure-tone average (PTA) and speech recognition threshold (SRT) differ by more than 12 dB in a patient. The most likely explanation is:
Answer: Non-organic (functional) hearing loss
A PTA-SRT discrepancy >12 dB (with SRT better than PTA) is a classic indicator of non-organic or functional hearing loss.
When testing a patient suspected of cochlear dead regions, the most appropriate method is:
Answer: Threshold Equalizing Noise (TEN) test
The TEN test presents threshold-equalizing noise to expose cochlear dead regions, as dead region thresholds rise more than 10 dB above the TEN level.
In a newborn hearing screen using automated ABR, a 'refer' result in a well baby nursery most appropriately leads to:
Answer: Repeat automated screen and diagnostic evaluation by 3 months
EHDI guidelines recommend re-screening and completing diagnostic evaluation by 3 months of age, with hearing aid fitting if loss is confirmed by 6 months.