Objective To determine if low lead exposure can influence auditory development in children. Methods Children were divided into two groups, i.e., low (<0.483 μmol/L) and high (≥0.483 μmol/L) blood lead levels with atomic spectrophotometry (AAS). Latencies and latent intervals between peak waves of their brain stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) in the two groups were measured and compared. Results There was positive correlation between blood lead levels and BAEP in wave Ⅲ at right ear, wave Ⅴ at both right and left ears and latent intervals between peak waves Ⅰ to V, with correlation coefficients of 0.299 1, 0.274 8, 0.324 8, 0.206 4 and 0.241 2, respectively. There was significant difference in latencies of wave Ⅲ at right ear, wave V at both right and left ears and latent intervals between peak waves Ⅰ to Ⅴ at both right and left ears and those between waves of Ⅲ to Ⅴ at right ear in the low blood lead group. Latencies and latent intervals between peak waves were longer in the high blood level group (with a mean of 0.78 μmol/L and a range of 0.58 to 1.42 μmol/L) than those in the low one (with a mean of 0.30 μmol/L and a range of 0.17 to 0.45 μmol/L). Conclusion Elevated blood lead level could cause prolongation of latencies and latent intervals between peak waves of BAEP and slowdown of the nerve conduction velocity, and so auditory development was influenced.