[Maturation of auditory evoked potentials in preterm newborns]

Auditory evoked potentials were recorded in 25 babies with postconceptional age between 32 and 37 weeks without any risk factors for brainstem dysfunction. Waves I, III and V were constant while waves II and IV appeared more frequently with increasing gestation. The latency of waves I and III did not vary significantly in the period investigated while waves V significantly decreased its latency from 7.69 m in week 32 to 7.06 m in week 37 (p less than 0.01). I-V interwave interval or brainstem conduction time decreased from 5.59 m to 4.96 m over this period (p less than 0.01).