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Updated: Jun 6, 2026
A Method for Tracking the Time Evolution of Steady-State Evoked Potentials
Published on: May 25, 2019
Auditory steady state responses recorded in multitalker babble
Elizabeth D Leigh-Paffenroth1, Owen D Murnane
1James H. Quillen VA Medical Center, Mountain Home, Tennessee 37684, USA. elizabeth.leigh@med.va.gov
Objective:
The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of multitalker babble on ASSRs in adult subjects with normal hearing (NH) and sensorineural hearing loss (HI). The secondary purpose was to investigate the relationships among ASSRs, word recognition in quiet, and word recognition in babble.
Design:
ASSRs were elicited by a complex mixed-modulation tonal stimulus (carrier frequencies of 500, 1500, 2500, and 4000 Hz; modulation rate of 40 or 90 Hz) presented in quiet and in babble. The level of each carrier frequency was adjusted to match the level of the multitalker babble spectrum, which was based on the long term speech spectrum average. Word recognition in noise (WIN) performance was measured and correlated to ASSR amplitude and ASSR detection rate.
Study Sample:
Nineteen normal-hearing adults and nineteen adults with sensorineural hearing loss were recruited.
Results And Conclusions:
The presence of babble significantly reduced the ASSR detection rate and ASSR amplitude for NH subjects, but had minimal effect on ASSRs for HI subjects. In addition, babble enhanced ASSR amplitude at high stimulus levels. ASSR detection rate and ASSR amplitude recorded in quiet and babble were significantly correlated with word recognition performance for NH and HI subjects.
