A functional measure of brain activity: Brain stem transmission time

M. Fabiani*, H. Sohmer, C. Tait, M. Gafni, R. Kinarti

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

81 Scopus citations

Abstract

Surface-recorded auditory nerve and brain stem responses are being used routinely for diagnostic purposes in man. When interest is in auditory diagnosis, the electric response threshold is of primary importance. However, when used in neurological diagnosis, the wave form of the response is important. As a measure of one aspect of response wave form, this paper suggests the use of brain stem transmission time (BTT), defined as the time interval between the first earlobe-negative wave (response of the auditory nerve - the 'input' to the brain stem) and the earlobe-positive wave from the region of the inferior colliculus (the 'output' of the brain stem). The paper shows that BTT is longest in neonates, approaches adult values at the age of about 3 years, is relatively independent of click intensity, conductive hearing loss (middle ear lesion), click rate (except for high rates) and click frequency (filtered clicks). The finding that in a given age group, BTT is generally independent of most stimulus conditions, makes it a useful functional test of brain stem activity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)483-491
Number of pages9
JournalElectroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology
Volume47
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1979

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