Input and Output Compensation for the Cochlear Traveling Wave Delay in Wide-Band ABR Recordings: Implications for Small Acoustic Tumor Detection

Background: The Stacked ABR (auditory brainstem response) attempts at the output of the auditory periphery to compensate for the temporal dispersion of neural activation caused by the cochlear traveling wave in response to click stimulation. Compensation can also be made at the input by using a chirp stimulus. It has been demonstrated that the Stacked ABR is sensitive to small tumors that are often missed by standard ABR latency measures. Purpose: Because a chirp stimulus requires only a single data acquisition run whereas the Stacked ABR requires six, we try to evaluate some indirect evidence justifying the use of a chirp for small tumor detection. Research Design: We compared the sensitivity and specificity of different Stacked ABRs formed by aligning the derived-band ABRs according to (1) the individual's peak latencies, (2) the group mean latencies, and (3) the modeled latencies used to develop a chirp. Results: For tumor detection with a chosen sensitivity of 95%, a relatively high specificity of 85% may be achieved with a chirp. Conclusion: It appears worthwhile to explore the actual use of a chirp because significantly shorter test and analysis times might be possible.

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Hit and False-Alarm Rates of Selected ABR Indices in Differentiating Cochlear Disorders From Acoustic Tumors

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/1059-0889.0501.90 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 90-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Frank E. Musiek ◽

Cynthia A. McCormick ◽

Raymond M. Hurley

Keyword(s):

False Alarm ◽

Amplitude Ratio ◽

High Specificity ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Latency Difference ◽

Cochlear Pathology ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Absolute Latency ◽

Two Indices ◽

Low Sensitivity

We performed a retrospective study of 26 patients with acoustic tumors and 26 patients with otologically diagnosed cochlear pathology to determine the sensitivity (hit rate), specificity (false-alarm rate), and efficiency of six auditory brainstem response indices. In addition, a utility value was determined for each of these six indices. The I–V interwave interval, the interaural latency difference, and the absolute latency of wave V provided the highest hit rates, the best A’ values and good utility. The V/I amplitude ratio index provided high specificity but low sensitivity scores. In regard to sensitivity and specificity, using the combination of two indices provided little overall improvement over the best one-index measures.

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Decision Analysis of Auditory Brainstem Responses and Rotational Vestibular Tests in Acoustic Tumor Diagnosis

Otolaryngology ◽

10.1177/019459988709600104 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 96 (1) ◽

pp. 22-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Charles A. Mangham

Keyword(s):

Decision Analysis ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

High Specificity ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Tumor Diagnosis ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Test Protocol ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Acoustic Tumor

This study addresses the problem of the escalation of the costs of medical care which make diagnosis of acoustic tumor expensive. Specifically, we examined the hypothesis that a test protocol of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) in parallel with sinusoidal harmonic acceleration (SHA) is more cost-effective in identification of the risk of tumor than ABR alone. The subjects were 74 patients with acoustic tumors and 78 controls. ABR and SHA data from these subjects were submitted to decision analysis. ABR was more cost-effective than the protocol of ABR in parallel with SHA. Using these data, we outlined a “decision tree” for acoustic tumor diagnosis that fit the goals of high sensitivity when earlier probability of tumor was high, and high specificity when earlier probability of tumor was low.

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Age-related decline in behavioral discrimination of amplitude modulation frequencies compared to envelope-following responses

10.1101/193268 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Jesyin Lai ◽

Edward L. Bartlett

Keyword(s):

Amplitude Modulation ◽

Speech Intelligibility ◽

Modulation Depth ◽

Acoustic Startle ◽

Hearing Threshold ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Acoustic Startle Reflex ◽

Neural Activation ◽

Age Related ◽

Brainstem Response

AbstractThe ability to discriminate modulation frequencies is important for speech intelligibility because speech has amplitude and frequency modulations. Neurophysiological responses assessed by envelope following responses (EFRs) significantly decline at faster amplitude modulation frequencies (AMF) in older subjects. A typical assumption is that a decline in EFRs will necessarily result in corresponding perceptual deficits. To test this assumption, we investigated young and aged Fischer-344 rats’ behavioral AMF discrimination abilities and compared to their EFRs. A modified version of prepulse inhibition (PPI) of acoustic startle reflex (ASR) was used to obtain behavioral performance. A PPI trial contains pulses of sinusoidal AM (SAM) at 128 Hz presented sequentially, a SAM prepulse with different AMF and a startle-eliciting-stimulus. To account for hearing threshold shift or age-related synaptopathy, stimulus levels were presented at 10-dB lower or match to the aged peripheral neural activation (using auditory brainstem response wave I amplitude). When AMF differences and modulation depths were large, young and aged animals’ behavioral performances were comparable. Aged animals’ AMF discrimination abilities declined as the AMF difference or the modulation depth reduced, even compared to the young with peripheral matching. Young animals showed smaller relative decreases in EFRs with reduced modulation depths. The correlation of EFRs and AM perception was identified to be more consistent in young animals. The overall results revealed larger age-related deficits in behavioral perception compared to EFRs, suggesting additional factors that affect perception despite smaller degradation in neural responses. Hence, behavioral and physiological measurements are critical in unveiling a more complete picture on the auditory function.

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Auditory Brainstem Responses to Level-Specific Chirps in Normal-Hearing Adults

Journal of the American Academy of Audiology ◽

10.3766/jaaa.23.9.5 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 23 (09) ◽

pp. 712-721 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Sinnet G. B. Kristensen ◽

Claus Elberling

Keyword(s):

Traveling Wave ◽

Wave Model ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Stimulus Level ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Matched Pair ◽

Rank Test ◽

Stimulation Level ◽

Brainstem Response

Background: Upward chirps are often designed to compensate for the cochlear traveling wave delay which is regarded as independent of stimulation level. A chirp based on a traveling wave model is therefore referred to as a level-independent chirp. Another compensation strategy, for instance based on frequency-specific auditory brainstem response (ABR) latencies, results in a chirp that changes with stimulation level and is therefore referred to as a level-dependent chirp. One such strategy, the direct approach, results in a chirp family that is called the level-specific chirp. The level dependence is in agreement with the findings that the chirp, which generates the largest ABR in normal-hearing adults, has a duration (sweeping rate) that changes with stimulus level. A direct comparison of ABRs to a fixed chirp and to a level-specific chirp has not been performed at higher levels of stimulation where the differences are thought to have the greatest effect on the ABR characteristics from normal-hearing adults. Purpose: To make a direct comparison of the ABRs to two different chirp stimuli—a level-specific chirp (LS-Chirp) and a level-independent chirp (CE-Chirp)—and to evaluate the hypothesis that at higher levels of stimulation the LS-Chirp generates significantly higher response amplitudes, and produces higher resolution of the different peaks in the ABR than the CE-Chirp. Research Design: ABRs are recorded in 10 normal-hearing adults (20 ears) in response to three stimuli at four presentation levels using ER-3A insert earphones. The three stimuli are (1) a level-specific chirp (LS-Chirp), (2) a level-independent chirp (CE-Chirp), and (3) a standard 100-μs click as a reference. The recorded ABRs are evaluated by the peak to trough amplitude (wave V), the peak latency (wave V), the frequency of appearance of wave I, III, and V, and the Grand Average waveforms. Amplitude and latency differences are evaluated statistically by the Wilcoxon matched-pair signed rank test. Results: At higher levels (80 dB nHL), the amplitude and waveform resolution of the ABR to the LS-Chirp are significantly higher than to the CE-Chirp. At lower levels (20, 40, and 60 dB nHL), no significant differences are found between the amplitudes of the ABR to the two stimuli, but at 60 dB nHL the waveform resolution is better for the LS-Chirp than for the CE-Chirp. For all levels, the amplitude of the ABRs to the two chirps are significantly larger than to the Click, except at 80 dB nHL where the ABR to the CE-Chirp gets distorted and low in amplitude. The differences between the ABR latencies to the three stimuli are large at higher levels, but small at lower levels. At higher levels, the LS-Chirp and the Click generate similar resolutions of the main ABR peaks, but the ABRs to the LS-Chirp are significantly larger than to the Click. Conclusions: The study confirms the experimental hypothesis that at higher levels of stimulation the LS-Chirp generates significantly higher response amplitudes than both the CE-Chirp and the Click. It also generates a much better response resolution than the CE-Chirp, but the same response resolution as the Click.

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Early Functional and Cognitive Declines Measured by Auditory-Evoked Cortical Potentials in Mice With Alzheimer’s Disease

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnagi.2021.710317 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

Author(s):

Ling Mei ◽

Li-Man Liu ◽

Kaitian Chen ◽

Hong-Bo Zhao

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Cognitive Activity ◽

Aging Effect ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Normal Aging ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Neural Activation ◽

Cognitive Changes ◽

Brainstem Response

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by a progressive loss of memory and cognitive decline. However, the assessment of AD-associated functional and cognitive changes is still a big challenge. Auditory-evoked cortical potential (AECP) is an event-related potential reflecting not only neural activation in the auditory cortex (AC) but also cognitive activity in the brain. In this study, we used the subdermal needle electrodes with the same electrode setting as the auditory brainstem response (ABR) recording and recorded AECP in normal aging CBA/CaJ mice and APP/PS1 AD mice. AECP in mice usually appeared as three positive peaks, i.e., P1, P2, and P3, and three corresponding negative peaks, i.e., N1, N2, and N3. In normal aging CBA mice, the early sensory peaks P1, N1, and P2 were reduced as age increased, whereas the later cognitive peaks N2, P3, and N3 were increased or had no changes with aging. Moreover, the latency of the P1 peak was increased as age increased, although the latencies of later peaks had a significant reduction with aging. In AD mice, peak P1 was significantly reduced in comparison with wild-type (WT) littermates at young ages, proceeding AD phenotype presentation. In particular, the later cognitive peak P3 was diminished after 3 months old, different from the normal aging effect. However, the latencies of AECP peaks in AD mice generally had no significant delay or changes with aging. Finally, consistent with AECP changes, the accumulation of amyloid precursor protein (APP) at the AC was visible in AD mice as early as 2 months old. These data suggest that AECP could serve as an early, non-invasive, and objective biomarker for detecting AD and AD-related dementia (ADRD).

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The Effect of Kalman-Weighted Averaging and Artifact Rejection on Residual Noise During Auditory Brainstem Response Testing

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2018_aja-18-0123 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 114-124

Author(s):

Linda W. Norrix ◽

Julie Thein ◽

David Velenovsky

Keyword(s):

Repeated Measures ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Weighted Averaging ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Residual Noise ◽

Electrophysiological Recordings ◽

Artifact Rejection ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Active Motor ◽

Averaging Time

Purpose Low residual noise (RN) levels are critically important when obtaining electrophysiological recordings of threshold auditory brainstem responses. In this study, we examine the effectiveness and efficiency of Kalman-weighted averaging (KWA) implemented on the Vivosonic Integrity System and artifact rejection (AR) implemented on the Intelligent Hearing Systems SmartEP system for obtaining low RN levels. Method Sixteen adults participated. Electrophysiological measures were obtained using simultaneous recordings by the Vivosonic and Intelligent Hearing Systems for subjects in 2 relaxed conditions and 4 active motor conditions. Three averaging times were used for the relaxed states (1, 1.5, and 3 min) and for the active states (1.5, 3, and 6 min). Repeated-measures analyses of variance were used to examine RN levels as a function of noise reduction strategy (i.e., KWA, AR) and averaging time. Results Lower RN levels were obtained using KWA than AR in both the relaxed and active motor states. Thus, KWA was more effective than was AR under the conditions examined in this study. Using KWA, approximately 3 min of averaging was needed in the relaxed condition to obtain an average RN level of 0.025 μV. In contrast, in the active motor conditions, approximately 6 min of averaging was required using KWA. Mean RN levels of 0.025 μV were not attained using AR. Conclusions When patients are not physiologically quiet, low RN levels are more likely to be obtained and more efficiently obtained using KWA than AR. However, even when using KWA, in active motor states, 6 min of averaging or more may be required to obtain threshold responses. Averaging time needed and whether a low RN level can be attained will depend on the level of motor activity exhibited by the patient.

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Comparisons of Auditory Brainstem Responses Between a Laboratory and Simulated Home Environment

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00383 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 (11) ◽

pp. 3877-3892

Author(s):

Ashley Parker ◽

Candace Slack ◽

Erika Skoe

Keyword(s):

Home Environment ◽

Signal To Noise Ratio ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Single Family ◽

Adult Participants ◽

Simulated Home Environment ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Research Populations ◽

Response Consistency

Purpose Miniaturization of digital technologies has created new opportunities for remote health care and neuroscientific fieldwork. The current study assesses comparisons between in-home auditory brainstem response (ABR) recordings and recordings obtained in a traditional lab setting. Method Click-evoked and speech-evoked ABRs were recorded in 12 normal-hearing, young adult participants over three test sessions in (a) a shielded sound booth within a research lab, (b) a simulated home environment, and (c) the research lab once more. The same single-family house was used for all home testing. Results Analyses of ABR latencies, a common clinical metric, showed high repeatability between the home and lab environments across both the click-evoked and speech-evoked ABRs. Like ABR latencies, response consistency and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were robust both in the lab and in the home and did not show significant differences between locations, although variability between the home and lab was higher than latencies, with two participants influencing this lower repeatability between locations. Response consistency and SNR also patterned together, with a trend for higher SNRs to pair with more consistent responses in both the home and lab environments. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining high-quality ABR recordings within a simulated home environment that closely approximate those recorded in a more traditional recording environment. This line of work may open doors to greater accessibility to underserved clinical and research populations.

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Objective Assessment of Hearing in Children: Update on Procedures and Protocols

Perspectives on Hearing and Hearing Disorders in Childhood ◽

10.1044/hhdc21.2.50 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 50-58

Author(s):

James W. Hall ◽

Anuradha R. Bantwal

Keyword(s):

Psychosocial Development ◽

Otoacoustic Emissions ◽

Objective Assessment ◽

Behavioral Assessment ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Test Battery ◽

Auditory Evoked Responses ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Assessment Techniques ◽

Pediatric Populations

Early identification and diagnosis of hearing loss in infants and young children is the first step toward appropriate and effective intervention and is critical for optimal communicative and psychosocial development. Limitations of behavioral assessment techniques in pediatric populations necessitate the use of an objective test battery to enable complete and accurate assessment of auditory function. Since the introduction of the cross-check principle 35 years ago, the pediatric diagnostic test battery has expanded to include, in addition to behavioral audiometry, acoustic immittance measures, otoacoustic emissions, and multiple auditory evoked responses (auditory brainstem response, auditory steady state response, and electrocochleography). We offer a concise description of a modern evidence-based audiological test battery that permits early and accurate diagnosis of auditory dysfunction.

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