[Brief acoustic stimuli for the recording of brain stem potentials by computer controlled system analysis]

Brief acoustic stimuli are used in the objective assessment of the auditory threshold and in topodiagnosis of pathological processes in the auditory path via registration of brain stem potentials. The type of stimulus, duration, frequency and phase are decisive for the evocation of the brain stem potentials. However, it is still a somewhat unsolved problem as to how to obtain an optimally reproducible kind of stimulation. The pattern of progression of acoustic stimuli is of crucial importance for the recording of early acoustic evoked potentials (EAEP). Using an artificial auditory canal, a measurement device was constructed for recording acoustic stimulus sequences in the auditory meatus. With the help of electronic monitoring it became possible to produce digitally controlled stimulation resulting in utilizing forms of electrical stimuli which cannot be produced in the audiometer, for obtaining suitable electric stimuli. Whereas the curves of the acoustic pressures largely deviate from those of the electrical stimuli, as shown by measurements in the artificial auditory canal (the deviations depending on the headphones used in each case), the transmission properties of the electro-acoustic transducers are processed mathematically on the basis of Fourier's transformation, and such processing makes it possible to electrically produce any desired sequences of acoustic stimuli, taking the transmission properties of the headphones into account. In this manner, synchronous discharging of the sensory cells by brief acoustic stimuli, which is required for EAEP recording, can be optimized.