Phototherapy and the brain-stem auditory evoked response in neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.

The latencies of peak V and interpeaks I-V and III-V in the brain-stem auditory evoked response of infants with hyperbilirubinemia before phototherapy were significantly greater than those in a control group of infants. These values of the brain stem auditory-evoked response improved significantly during phototherapy and correlated significantly with the declining bilirubin levels. Improvement continued after phototherapy, despite a rebound of serum bilirubin concentrations.