A study of auditory middle latency responses in relation to electrode combinations and stimulus conditions

Auditory middle latency responses were recorded from healthy right-handed subjects. Acoustic clicks at a rate of 10/s were presented to the subjects via headphones. Using the electrode combination unilateral mastoid-nose tip, responses characterized by two early negative waves (about 11.5 and 18 ms peak latencies), followed by a late positive one (about 30 ms peak latency), were elicited by binaural stimulation (50-dB SL clicks). The waveform of responses from the unilateral mastoid-nose tip combination was similar to that recorded from a combination of the same side mastoid and a balanced noncephalic reference electrode, although the phase was opposite to that recorded from the Cz-unilateral mastoid combination. Auditory middle latency responses were recorded simultaneously from right mastoid and left mastoid and referenced to the nose tip; interaural differences in amplitude were found in most subjects. The amplitudes of the early components for binaural stimulation were larger than those for monaural stimulation.