Cortical auditory evoked potentials to gaps in broadband noise in infants

• Main Author: Jordan, Rachel
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2016
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/59537

Purpose: There are currently no objective measures to evaluate hearing function in young infants with impaired temporal processing (e.g., Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD)). The present study investigated cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) elicited to gaps in broadband noise to assess temporal processing ability in infants. This method has potential as a clinical tool in these populations. This study was intended as a first step to determine feasibility. Method: Participants were 10 adults and 22 infants with normal hearing. Stimuli were continuous broadband noise with 20, 50 and 100 ms gaps inserted once per second. CAEPs were recorded at Cz referenced to M1. Two replications (minimum of 75 trials each) were included for analysis and judged by three raters for response presence or absence. Results: CAEPs were interpreted as present for the majority of infants and adults to 20-, 50- and 100-ms gaps. The adults had responses in almost all cases, consistent with previous results. In most cases, the morphology of the infant response was consistent with previous results, that is, a single peak at approximately 200 ms. In some cases, however, the infant response was a plateau- shaped peak. Conclusions: These results suggest that it is feasible to record CAEPs in infants to gaps and that infants may have better gap detection abilities than previously thought (20 ms or better). Further research is needed to refine this technique and to extend it to clinical populations for clinical use. === Medicine, Faculty of === Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of === Graduate