Intensity and rate functions of cochlear and brainstem evoked responses to click stimuli in man

H. Pratt, H. Sohmer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

135 Scopus citations

Abstract

The complex of five waves, which are the responses to click stimuli of the auditory nerve and the brainstem auditory nuclei, were recorded in ten human subjects by means of earlobe and scalp electrodes. The rate of the stimuli was varied from 5/s to 80/s and their intensity was varied over a 70 dB intensity range in order to study the rate and intensity functions of each of the response components. With increasing click intensity, the amplitude of the first wave (generated by the auditory nerve) increased proportionally while the amplitudes of the later waves (generated by the brainstem auditory nuclei) reached their maximum amplitudes at intermediate click levels (saturation), and at high intensities occasionally even decreased in amplitude. The latency of each of the waves decreased by similar amounts as the intensity was increased. With increasing click rates, the amplitude of the first wave decreased the most, while there were smaller effects on the amplitude of the later waves. There was no effect of click rate on the latency of the first wave, but the latency of the later waves increased with click rate, the effect being greater on the later waves. In the rate functions, the latency change of a wave was greater than that of the waves preceding it (accumulative effect). These results are explained by overlapping convergence and divergence in the ascending auditory pathway. These results support the notion that the principal component of each wave is activated by the principal component of the previous wave. These results may explain the relative ease with which several workers record the fourth wave of the complex, and their preference for this response.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)85-92
Number of pages8
JournalArchives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology
Volume212
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1976

Keywords

  • Auditory pathway
  • Brainstem
  • Cochlea
  • Compound action potential
  • Electrocochleography
  • Evoked potentials
  • Human recording

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