The aim of this work was an objective hearing assessment in children who had suffered from purulent meningitis. We examined 43 children (mean age 4.4 years) with the use of brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP, BERA), months or years (mean time interval - 30 months) after they had gone through purulent meningitis. Latencies and intervals of BAEP waves were estimated, then thresholds were fixed. 21 children (49%) presented hearing impairment, in 16 cases - it was bilateral hypoacusia, and among these 6 children displayed profound bilateral hearing loss (³90 dBHL) or deafness. Having excluded other risk factors of hypoacusia, mainly the use of gentamicin (frequent in the treatment of bacterial meningitis), a group of 31 children remained. Within the group, 4 (12%) children revealed pathologically prolonged latencies I-V and 9 (29%) children displayed hearing loss apart from prolonged latencies (it was mostly bilateral hypoacusia, excluding 1 patient, and in 2 cases - profound bilateral hearing loss ³90 dBHL was observed). The conclusion which may be drawn after this analysis says that bacterial meningitis frequently leads to hearing loss and that children who suffered from this disease should undergo audiological tests.

Keywords: brainstem auditory evoked potentials, hearing assessment, Hearing Loss, Meningitis