Identification and separation of acoustic frequency following responses (FFRS) in man

Frequency following responses (FFRs) to monaural tone bursts were recorded in normal and hearing impaired subjects as the potential difference between an ipsilateral earlobe electrode and a scalp vertex electrode. When the rubber tube coupler between the earphone and the subject's ear was clamped, a stimulus artefact FFR was occasionally recorded. The "biological" FFR had a latency of about 1 msec and an irregular wave form which was made more sinusoidal by the addition of white noise. When the responses to tone bursts of opposite onset phases were added together, a "double frequency" FFR was obtained which had a latency of about 6 msec and whose amplitude was appreciably reduced by white noise. In some hearing impaired subjects (with no neural responses to clicks), this longer latency double frequency component could not be recorded, while in those cases in which the cochlear microphonic potential could be recorded, the shorter latency FFR was also present. It is concluded that the FFR in normally hearing subjects is made up of a short latency cochlear microphonic component and a longer latency neural component.