Response enhancement and reduction of the auditory brain-stem response in a forward-masking paradigm

Alterations in the probe evoked auditory brain-stem response (ABR) were evaluated in 15 normal-hearing subjects using several stimulus configurations in a tone-on-tone forward-masking paradigm. The stimulus parameters manipulated in the study included: masker frequency; relative intensity of the masker; overall intensity of the masker-probe pair; and masker rise-fall time. Latency increases for waves III and V and an amplitude reduction for wave III were observed under some stimulus conditions. These changes were interpreted in terms of partial forward-masking effects. The masking effects were shown: to be maximal for masker frequencies in close proximity to the probe; to increase with increasing level of masker; to be independent of the overall level of the masker-probe pair; and, to decrease with increasing rise-fall time of the masker. Collectively, the forward-masking effects were interpreted as peripheral in origin, although, an additional brain-stem locus was not ruled out. In contrast, the same stimuli which increased wave III and V latencies and reduced wave III amplitude produced a robust amplitude increment in wave V which was termed enhancement. Wave V enhancement was shown: to be maximal for masker frequencies in close proximity to the probe; to decrease with increasing masker level; and, to decrease with faster rise-fall times of the masker. The processes mediating wave V enhancement are not clear, however, it was concluded that wave V enhancement probably reflects the resultant of a complex central neuronal interaction, presumably in the vicinity of the wave V generator(s).