A proposed method to evaluate brain stem auditory evoked potential amplitude: pilot study

The distribution and variability of brain stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) were studied in 30 guinea pigs under controlled conditions. Coefficient of variation showed amplitude variables to have a greater intersubject variability than latency variables. However, amplitude variables were not found to be normally distributed. Therefore, evaluation of amplitude variables using statistics which assume that the underlying data are normally distributed can be misleading. One must either transform the data so they fit a normal distribution or use statistical methods that do not depend on a normal distribution. A nonparametric analysis study on amplitude variables in humans in recommended to update its clinical applicability.