A simple hearing test developed by Northwestern University researchers could provide the key to diagnosing concussions, particularly among children.
Late last week researchers from Northwestern's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory published research that showed a biological marker in the auditory system that differentiates those who have suffered a concussion from those who have not. In tests, they found that children who suffered a concussion had on average a 35 percent smaller neural response to pitch, than those who hadn't been concussed (they decided to investigate hearing after noticing that patients with concussions often have difficulty hearing after impact). They successfully identified 90 percent of children with concussions, as well as 95 percent of children in the control group without concussions.
“This biomarker could take the guesswork out of concussion diagnosis and management,” said lead author Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, to Northwestern. “Our hope is this discovery will enable clinicians, parents and coaches to better manage athlete health, because playing sports is one of the best things you can do.”
Currently doctors rely on patients complaints of dizziness and coordination tests, or more extensive procedures such as MRIs or CT scans to diagnose concussions. These methods are subjective, can be invasive and, particularly with children, patients may underreport their symptoms. Given estimates say up to 3.8 million sports-related traumatic brain injuries occur annually in the United States, researchers point out it's important to develop a reliable method of treating and tracking concussions.
That being said, their research is in the early stages. Kraus worked with Cynthia LaBella, a sports doctor at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to study 40 children in their initial test (a very small sample size). Now they're testing on athletes, and Kraus is hoping to commercialize the research, eventually developing concussion-detecting kit.
