Derived-band auditory brainstem responses: cochlear contributions determined by narrowband maskers

The present study sought to determine the cochlear frequency regions represented by Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABRs) obtained using the high-pass noise/derived response (HP/DR) technique.

Broadband noise sufficient to mask the ABR to 50 dB nHL clicks was HP filtered (96 dB/oct) at 8000, 4000, 2000, 1000 and 500 Hz. Mixed with the clicks and HP noise masker was narrowband noise. Three derived response bands, denoted by the upper and lower high-pass noise frequencies, were obtained: DR4000-2000, DR2000-1000, and DR1000-500.

Ten adults with normal hearing, aged 19-27 years (mean age: 22.4 years), were recruited from the community.

Frequencies contributing to each DR were determined from the wave V percent amplitude (or latency shift) vs narrowband masker frequency profiles (relative to a no-narrowband-noise condition). Overall, results indicate derived band centre frequencies were closer to the lower HP cut-off frequencies for DR4000-2000 and DR2000-1000, and approximately halfway between the lower HP cut-off and the geometric mean of the two HP frequencies for DR1000-500, with bandwidths of 0.5-1 octave in width.

These results confirm the validity of the HP/DR technique for assessing narrow cochlear regions (≤1.0 octave wide), with centre frequencies within ½-octave of the lower HP frequency.