[Electrophysiologic studies on the course of the adaptation phase following noise stress]

It was the aim of this study to settle the problem whether the post-stimulatory pattern of the extent of excitation (amplitude, latency) registered with the cortical evoked potentials can be verified in the recovery phase via leads from the brain stem region and cochlea. In this context electrophysiological measurements with human and animal material were performed. After a five-minute stimulation with a wide-band noise of various intensity we examined in the post-stimulation phase the specific stimulus pattern of the evoked potentials during an interval of 5 minutes with a resolution of 5 sec. We determined the change in response patterns of evoked potentials. Finally, the relevance of the results with regard to various nuclei of the auditory pathway is compared with corresponding electrophysiological measurements of the cochlear microphonics potentials, the VIII nerve compound action potential, and evoked potentials of different units of the brain stem and brain.