Relations between auditory brainstem response and threshold metrics in normal and impaired hearing listeners

Authors

  • Sarah Verhulst Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4all”, Dept. of Medical Physics and Acoustics, Oldenburg University, Oldenburg, Germany
  • Anoop Jagadeesh Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4all”, Dept. of Medical Physics and Acoustics, Oldenburg University, Oldenburg, Germany
  • Manfred Mauermann Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4all”, Dept. of Medical Physics and Acoustics, Oldenburg University, Oldenburg, Germany
  • Frauke Ernst Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4all”, Dept. of Medical Physics and Acoustics, Oldenburg University, Oldenburg, Germany

Abstract

Auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) offer a potential tool to diagnose auditory-nerve deficits in listeners with normal hearing thresholds as abnormalities in the amplitude of this population response may result from a loss in the number of auditory-nerve fibers contributing to this response. However, little is known about how cochlear gain loss interacts with auditory-nerve deficits to impact ABRs. We measured level-dependent changes in click-ABR wave-I and V in listeners with normal and elevated thresholds to study which measures are dominated by cochlear gain loss. ABR wave-V latency-vs-intensity functions correlated well to the distortion-product otoacoustic emission threshold and this relation was also observed for the slope of supra-threshold ABR wave-I level growth in listeners with thresholds above 20 dB SPL. ABR wave-I and wave-V growth were not related to each other, demanding caution when using ABR wave-V growth or level as a direct measure for auditory-nerve deficits.

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Published

2015-12-15

How to Cite

Verhulst, S., Jagadeesh, A., Mauermann, M., & Ernst, F. (2015). Relations between auditory brainstem response and threshold metrics in normal and impaired hearing listeners. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 5, 35–42. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2015-04

Issue

Vol. 5 (2015): Individual Hearing Loss - Characterization, modelling, compensation strategies

Section

2015/1. Characterizing individual differences in hearing loss

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