The Parallel Auditory Brainstem Response

Abstract

The frequency-specific tone-evoked auditory brainstem response (ABR) is an indispensable tool in both the audiology clinic and research laboratory. Most frequently, the toneburst ABR is used to estimate hearing thresholds in infants, toddlers, and other patients for whom behavioral testing is not feasible. Therefore, results of the ABR exam form the basis for decisions regarding interventions and hearing habilitation with implications extending far into the child’s future. Currently, responses are elicited by periodic sequences of toneburst stimuli presented serially to one ear at a time, which take a long time to measure multiple frequencies and intensities, and provide incomplete information if the infant wakes up early. Here, we describe a new method, the parallel ABR (pABR), which uses randomly timed toneburst stimuli to simultaneously acquire ABR waveforms to five frequencies in both ears. Here, we describe the pABR and quantify its effectiveness in addressing the greatest drawback of current methods: test duration. We show that in adults with normal hearing the pABR yields high-quality waveforms over a range of intensities, with similar morphology to the standard ABR in a fraction of the recording time. Furthermore, longer latencies and smaller amplitudes for low frequencies at a high intensity evoked by the pABR versus serial ABR suggest that responses may have better place specificity due to the masking provided by the other simultaneous toneburst sequences. Thus, the pABR has substantial potential for facilitating faster accumulation of more diagnostic information that is important for timely identification and treatment of hearing loss.

Optimizing auditory brainstem response acquisition using interleaved frequencies

“…Although observed differences in wave latency were sometimes significant, they were small and clinically insignificant (e.g., less than 0.5 ms). Changes in wave latency can potentially result from small shifts in the place of excitation along the cochlea due to the other frequencies presented in the stimulus train (Polonenko and Maddox, 2019).…”

“…Faster tone presentations can result in multiple tones falling in the analysis window. More recently, a study tested an approach in which tone pips of five frequencies are presented randomly to each ear (Polonenko and Maddox, 2019). The interval between tone pips was generated using a Poisson process with an average presentation rate of 200 tones/s across all frequencies in a single ear.…”

“…A number of studies have explored various time-saving strategies for ABR measurement. One approach is to randomize the stimulus timing and use deconvolution to reconstruct the ABR (e.g., Eysholdt and Schreiner, 1982;Polonenko and Maddox, 2019;Millan et al, 2006;Valderrama et al, 2012;Burkard et al, 1990). However, these studies showed evidence of adaptation, manifested as a decrease in ABR amplitude or increase in ABR latency.…”

Ear-Bot: Locust Ear-on-a-Chip Bio-Hybrid Platform

“…The stimulation protocol was composed of 60 dB (decibels) sound pressure level (SPL) (Relative 10 cm), three 500 ms long sound pulses, spaced by 1000 ms of silence as commonly done for auditory brainstem response (ABR) [ 24 ]. Each group of three pulses was of different frequency (between 0.2 kHz and 15 kHz, see Figure S4 ) and separated from the previous group by 5000 ms. Sound intensity was normalized to be equal in all frequencies by compensating for the speaker’s frequency response.…”

Techniques for Obtaining High-quality Recordings in Electrocochleography

“…Methods to manage stimulus artifact include, alternating the polarity of the stimulus (Aiken and Picton, 2008), using insert earphones, and magnetically shielding the transducer (Margolis, 1999). Additionally, a recent approach involves placing a pair of insert earphones adjacent to each other so their electric fields cancel during the simultaneous presentation of a stimulus in opposite polarity (Polonenko and Maddox, 2019). When measuring the CAP, stimulus artifact is reduced by averaging responses elicited by stimuli presented in alternating polarity; however, the CM is also eliminated in the process.…”