Effects of Stimulus Repetition Rates on the Auditory Brainstem Response to Level-Specific CE-Chirp in Normal-Hearing Adults

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of stimulus repetition rates on the auditory brainstem response (ABR) to Level-Specific (LS) CE-Chirp and click stimuli at multiple intensity levels in normal-hearing adults. Method A repeated-measure study design was used on 13 normal-hearing adults. ABRs were acquired from the study participants using LS CE-Chirp and click stimuli at four stimulus repetition rates (19.1, 33.3, 61.1, and 81.1 Hz) and four intensity levels (80, 60, 40, and 20 dB nHL). The ABR test was stopped at 40-nV residual noise level. Results High-stimulus repetition rates caused the ABR latencies to be longer and have reduced amplitudes in both ABR to LS CE-Chirp and click stimuli. The ABR to LS CE-Chirp Wave I, III, and V amplitudes were larger than ABR to click in almost all the stimulus repetition rates. However, there were no differences in the number of averages required to reach the stopping criterion between ABR to LS CE-Chirp and click stimulus, and between high-stimulus repetition rates and low-stimulus repetition rates. Conclusion The LS CE-Chirp at standard low-stimulus repetition rates can be used to elicit ABR for both neurodiagnostic and threshold seeking procedure.