A comparison of commercially available auditory brainstem response stimuli at a neurodiagnostic intensity level

iChirp-evoked auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) yield a larger wave V amplitude at low intensity levels than traditional broadband click stimuli, providing a reliable estimation of hearing sensitivity. However, advantages of iChirp stimulation at high intensity levels are unknown. We tested to see if high-intensity (i.e., 85 dBnHL) iChirp stimulation results in larger and more reliable ABR waveforms than click. Using the commercially available Intelligent Hearing System SmartEP platform, we recorded ABRs from 43 normal hearing young adults. We report that absolute peak latencies were more variable for iChirp and were ~3 ms longer: the latter of which is simply due to the temporal duration of the signal. Interpeak latencies were slightly shorter for iChirp and were most evident between waves I-V. Interestingly, click responses were easier to identify and peak-to-trough amplitudes for waves I, III and V were significantly larger than iChirp. These differences were not due to residual noise levels. We speculate that high intensity iChirp stimulation reduces neural synchrony and conclude that for retrocochlear evaluations, click stimuli should be used as the standard for ABR neurodiagnostic testing.

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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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Auditory brainstem responses in the red-eared slider Trachemys scripta elegans (Testudoformes: Emydidae) reveal sexually dimorphic hearing sensitivity

Journal of Comparative Physiology A ◽

10.1007/s00359-019-01372-y ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 205 (6) ◽

pp. 847-854 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tongliang Wang ◽

Handong Li ◽

Jianguo Cui ◽

Xiaofei Zhai ◽

Haitao Shi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Dimorphism ◽

Tympanic Membrane ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Trachemys Scripta ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Sexually Dimorphic ◽

Trachemys Scripta Elegans ◽

Hearing Sensitivity ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Auditory Systems

Abstract Hearing sensitivity is of general interest from the perspective of understanding the functionality and evolution of vertebrate auditory systems. Sexual dimorphism of auditory systems has been reported in several species of vertebrates, but little is known about this phenomenon in turtles. Some morphological characteristics, such as middle ear and tympanic membrane that influence the hearing sensitivity of animals can result in hearing sexual dimorphism. To examine whether sexual dimorphism in hearing sensitivity occurs in turtles and to compare hearing characteristics with respect to the shape of the tympanic membrane, we measured the hearing sensitivity and tympanum diameter in both sexes of Trachemys scripta elegans. The results showed that, with the exception of 0.9 kHz, auditory brainstem response thresholds were significantly lower in females than in males for frequencies in the 0.2–1.1 kHz range, indicating that the hearing of females shows greater sensitivity. No significant differences were detected in the tympanum diameter of both sexes. These results showed that sexually dimorphic hearing sensitivity has evolved in turtles; however, this difference does not appear to be related to differences in the size of the tympanic membrane. The possible origin and function of the sexual differences in auditory characteristic are discussed.

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The Effect of Stimulus Repetition Rate on the Auditory Brainstem Response in Tumor and Nontumor Patients

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.3004.494 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 494-502 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Kathleen C.M. Campbell ◽

Paul J. Abbas

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Repetition Rate ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Hearing Sensitivity ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Group Detection ◽

Latency Shift ◽

Stimulus Repetition Rate ◽

Asymmetric Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Auditory brainstem responses were recorded in two groups of adult subjects with asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss. Clicks were presented at repetition rates of 9.7, 39.7, 49.7, and 59.7/s. One group was composed of 20 patients with no known otoneurologic lesion (cochlear group), and one group was composed of 8 patients with a surgically confirmed acoustic neuroma in the ear with poorer hearing sensitivity (retrocochlear group). Detection of wave V at different repetition rates was not significantly different between the two groups. Average wave-V latency shift was not significantly different between the two groups as repetition rate increased from 9.7/s to 39.7/s but was significantly greater for the retroeochlear group as repetition rate increased from 9.7/s to 49.7/s and 59.7/s. However, the wave-V latency shift showed no improvement over the slow-rate interaural wave-V latency difference in discriminating between the two groups of patients. No significant correlation between the amount of wave-V latency shift and hearing loss at 2000 Hz or 4000 Hz was found for the ears with poorer hearing sensitivity.

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Effect of Stimulus Rates in Chirp and Click Evoked Auditory Brainstem Response in Adults with Normal Hearing Sensitivity

Bengal Journal of Otolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery ◽

10.47210/bjohns.2020.v28i3.287 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 248-254

Author(s):

Susmi Pani ◽

Archita Sahoo ◽

Indranil Chatterjee ◽

Palash Dutta

Keyword(s):

Repetition Rate ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Stimulus Repetition ◽

Hearing Sensitivity ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Absolute Latency ◽

The Absolute ◽

Stimulus Repetition Rate

Introduction The effects of increasing stimulus repetition rate on the ABR using click stimuli have been investigated in normal and hearing impaired subjects with neurologic abnormality but there is limited study on the effect of stimulus repetition rate on ABR using chirp stimuli. The present study aims to compare the chirp evoked auditory brainstem responses with reference to changes in latency of peaks, interaural latency differences and interwave latency intervals as a function of rate and compare those responses with the click evoked auditory brainstem responses, in normal hearing subjects. Materials and Methods Total 30 normally hearing adults were considered for this study. All participants were screened for normal hearing sensitivity upto 8 kHz in pure tone audiometry for middle ear pathology and central auditory processing disorder. Four parameters of ABR were considered to assess in this study including absolute latency, interwave latency intervals, latency-rate function and interaural latency. ABR was done based on the protocol of this study. Results Results revealed that there was a significant difference in the absolute latency and interwave intervals when the stimulus repetition rate was increased. Conclusion The latencies of wave III and V increases and waveform morphology changed as the stimulus repetition rate increased above 20/sec. The absolute latency of wave III and V was found to be shorter than clicks and can be used especially in newborn hearing evaluation assuming in shorter time window.

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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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Auditory Brainstem Responses to Successive Sounds: Effects of Gap Duration and Depth

Audiology Research ◽

10.3390/audiolres11010005 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 38-46

Author(s):

Fan-Yin Cheng ◽

Craig A. Champlin

Keyword(s):

Background Noise ◽

Tone Burst ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

Temporal Acuity ◽

Harmonic Complex ◽

Rapid Changes ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Physiological Correlate

Temporal acuity is the ability to differentiate between sounds based on fluctuations in the waveform envelope. The proximity of successive sounds and background noise diminishes the ability to track rapid changes between consecutive sounds. We determined whether a physiological correlate of temporal acuity is also affected by these factors. We recorded the auditory brainstem response (ABR) from human listeners using a harmonic complex (S1) followed by a brief tone burst (S2) with the latter serving as the evoking signal. The duration and depth of the silent gap between S1 and S2 were manipulated, and the peak latency and amplitude of wave V were measured. The latency of the responses decreased significantly as the duration or depth of the gap increased. The amplitude of the responses was not affected by the duration or depth of the gap. These findings suggest that changing the physical parameters of the gap affects the auditory system’s ability to encode successive sounds.

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Comparison of auditory steady state response (ASSR) & auditory brainstem response (ABR) hearing thresholds in young children.

Journal of Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University ◽

10.32593/jstmu/vol2.iss1.21 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 17-21

Author(s):

Adil Munir ◽

Nazia Mumtaz ◽

Ghulam Saqulain ◽

Munir Ahmad

Keyword(s):

Steady State ◽

Hearing Threshold ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Steady State Response ◽

Female Ratio ◽

State Response ◽

Hearing Thresholds ◽

Auditory Steady State Response ◽

Brainstem Response

Objective: Hearing loss (HL) with a local prevalence of 5.7%, is the commonest childhood disability, requiring Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs to reduce the disability burden. Knowing the degree, type and configuration of HL is prerequisite for appropriate amplification, with Automated Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABR) being commonly used for this purpose, however Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR) has been recently introduced in the region. This study was conducted to compare ABR to ASSR, as an early diagnostic tool in children under five years of age. Methodology: This cross-sectional comparative study was performed at the Auditory Verbal Institute of Audiology and Speech (AVIAS) clinics in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, from December 2016 to September 2017. It included thirty-two cases (n=32) who visited AVIAS clinics for hearing assessment and conformed to the investigative protocol using non probability convenient sampling technique, and subjected to both ABR and ASSR for comparative purposes. Correlations were calculated between the thresholds obtained by ABR and ASSR. Results: N=32 children (64 ears) with male female ratio of 2.2:1 and mean age of 33.50±17.73 months were tested with ABR and ASSR for hearing thresholds and correlation coefficient between 2KHz, 4KHz ASSR and average of both with ABR was calculated to be 0.92 and 0.90 and 0.94 respectively. Conclusion: ASSR provides additional frequency specific hearing threshold estimation compared to C-ABR, essentially required for proper setting of amplification devices.

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Auditory Brainstem Responses and Clinical Follow-up of High-Risk Infants

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.83.3.385 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 83 (3) ◽

pp. 385-392

Author(s):

Steven J. Kramer ◽

Dianne R. Vertes ◽

Marie Condon

Keyword(s):

High Risk ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Sensorineural Hearing ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Hearing Level ◽

Hearing Impairments ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Infant Program ◽

High Risk Infants

Auditory brainstem response (ABR) evaluations were performed on 667 high-risk infants from an infant special care unit. Of these infants, 82% passed the ABR. Those infants who failed the ABR were classified into two groups, those who failed at 30 dB hearing level and those who failed at 45 dB hearing level. All of the infants were encouraged to return for otologic/audiologic follow-up in 1, 3, or 6 months, depending on the initial ABR results. All of the infants with severe hearing impairments came from the group who failed at 45 dB hearing level. The incidence of severe sensorineural hearing impairment in this population was estimated to be 2.4%. For the group that failed at 30 dB hearing level, 80% of those who were abnormal at follow-up were considered to have conductive hearing disorders and 20% had mild sensorineural hearing impairments. In addition, infants enrolled in a parent-infant program for hearing impaired by 6 months of age were from the ABR program; however, several infants entered the parent-infant program at a relatively late age because they did not meet the high-risk criteria, they were from other hospitals, or they were not detected by the ABR program.

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Analysis of Click and Swept-Tone Auditory Brainstem Response Results for Moderate and Severe Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Audiology and Neurotology ◽

10.1159/000507691 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (6) ◽

pp. 336-344

Author(s):

Jingqian Tan ◽

Jia Luo ◽

Xin Wang ◽

Yanbing Jiang ◽

Xiangli Zeng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Sensorineural Hearing Loss ◽

Auditory Brainstem Response ◽

Basilar Membrane ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Sensorineural Hearing ◽

Control Group ◽

Hearing Sensitivity ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Frequency Components

Introduction: Auditory brainstem response (ABR) is one of the commonly used methods in clinical settings to evaluate the hearing sensitivity and auditory function. The current ABR measurement usually adopts click sound as the stimuli. However, there may be partial ABR amplitude attenuation due to the delay characteristics of the cochlear traveling wave along the basilar membrane. To solve that problem, a swept-tone method was proposed, in which the show-up time of different frequency components was adjusted to compensate the delay characteristics of the cochlear basilar membrane; therefore, different ABR subcomponents of different frequencies were synchronized. Methods: The normal hearing group, moderate sensorineural hearing loss group, and severe sensorineural hearing loss group underwent click ABR and swept-tone ABR with different stimulus intensities. The latencies and amplitudes of waves I, III, and V in 2 detections were recorded. Results: It was found that the latency of each of the recorded I, III, and V waves detected by swept-tone ABR was shorter than that by click ABR in both the control group and experimental groups. In addition, the amplitude of each of the recorded I, III, and V waves, except V waves under 60 dB nHL in the moderate sensorineural hearing loss group, detected by swept-tone ABR was larger than that by click ABR. The results also showed that the swept-tone ABR could measure the visible V waves at lower stimulus levels in the severe sensorineural hearing loss group. Conclusion: Swept-tone improves the ABR waveforms and helps to obtain more accurate threshold to some extent. Therefore, the proposed swept-tone ABR may provide a new solution for better morphology of ABR waveform, which can help to make more accurate diagnosis about the hearing functionality in the clinic.

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Hormones and Hearing: Central Auditory Processing in Women

Journal of the American Academy of Audiology ◽

10.3766/jaaa.17123 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (06) ◽

pp. 493-501

Author(s):

Skylar Trott ◽

Trey Cline ◽

Jeffrey Weihing ◽

Deidra Beshear ◽

Matthew Bush ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Human Model ◽

Central Auditory Processing ◽

Hormonal Changes ◽

Hearing Sensitivity ◽

Organ Systems ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Brainstem Response

AbstractEstrogen has been identified as playing a key role in many organ systems. Recently, estrogen has been found to be produced in the human brain and is believed contribute to central auditory processing. After menopause, a low estrogen state, many women report hearing loss but demonstrate no deficits in peripheral hearing sensitivity, which support the notion that estrogen plays an effect on central auditory processing. Although animal research on estrogen and hearing loss is extensive, there is little in the literature on the human model.The aim of this study was to evaluate relationships between hormonal changes and hearing as it relates to higher auditory function in pre- and postmenopausal (Post-M) females.A prospective, group comparison study.Twenty eight women between the ages of 18 and 70 at the University of Kentucky were recruited.Participants were separated into premenopausal and peri-/Post-M groups. Participants had normal peripheral hearing sensitivity and underwent a behavioral auditory processing battery and electrophysiological evaluation. An analysis of variance was performed to address the aims of the study.Results from the study demonstrated statistically significant difference between groups, where Post-M females had difficulties in spatial hearing abilities as reflected on the Listening in Spatialized Noise Test–Sentences test. In addition, measures on the auditory brainstem response and the middle latency response reflected statistically significant differences between groups with Post-M females having longer latencies.Results from the present study demonstrated significant differences between groups, particularly listening in noise. Females who present with auditory complaints in spite of normal hearing thresholds should have a more extensive audiological evaluation to further evaluate possible central deficits.

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