Brainstem auditory evoked potentials in children--a normative study

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) were recorded from electrodes placed at CZ-A1 and A2 positions in sixty nine healthy children of 3-13 years age. Eighty four ears in 42 male children and 54 ears in 27 female children were tested for evoked potentials using 70 dB HL click stimuli, at a rate of 10 per second with 0.1 msec duration and 2048 responses were averaged and replicated in each ear. The values of various absolute peak and interpeak latencies (IPLs) did not show any sex differences. Mean values of BAEP irrespective of sex were calculated. The values for absolute peak latencies were 1.62 +/- .19 for I, 2.63 +/- .2 for II, 3.75 +/- .21 for III, 4.87 +/- .25 for IV and 5.63 +/- .28 for V and those for IPLs were I-V 4.0 +/- .22, I-III 2.13 +/- .14 and III-V 1.87 +/- .16 msec. The recognizability was 100% for waves I, III and V and 92% for waves II and IV. The 99% tolerance limit (TL) of IPLs (mean + 3SD) was taken as a criterion for clinical abnormality. The 99% IL for I-V, I-III and III-V were 4.66, 2.55, 2.35 msec, respectively.