White Noise Machine Use in Children and Soundfield Audiometry

Introduction: Narrow band noise is the most commonly used stimulus during soundfield testing in children. With the increasing use of white noise generators for sleep in children at home, this stimulus is less unique to them. This study aimed to see how many children undergoing soundfield audiometry had previously been exposed to white noise for routine use.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed for children who were deemed appropriate for soundfield audiometry between May and August of 2022. Information including age, gender, chief complaint, comorbidities, pure tone average (PTA), speech reception threshold (SRT), tympanometry, and exposure to white noise were recorded. Children exposed to white noise were tested with a modulated stimulus, those not exposed were tested with a narrow band noise stimulus.

Results: 127 patients underwent soundfield audiometry testing, of which 96 (75.6%) were reported by their parents to use white noise for sleep. The mean age at time of testing was 1.6y (95% CI 1.5-1.7). 104 (81.9%) of the children were able to respond to at least four of the soundfield thresholds, and there was no significant difference between the children exposed to white noise and those who were not (P=.459). Mean PTA was 26.2 dB (95% CI 25.2-27.2) and mean SRT was 19.2 dB (95% CI 18.2-20.2). There was no statistically significant difference in gender, race, age, chief complaint, mean dB soundfield, SRT, and tympanogram categories between those who reported white noise use and those who did not.

Conclusions: Up to 75% of parents routinely expose their children to white noise to help them fall asleep, making it difficult to use narrow band noise for soundfield testing. We did not see a difference in success in obtaining soundfield responses between the modulated stimulus and narrow band noise in this small group.