[Can the differential diagnosis cochlear-retrocochlear disorder be improved using the brain stem potentials with...

The influence of click stimuli delivered at different repetition rates upon the brainstem potentials was studied by various investigators some years ago. Until now only few reports are available using this technique in recognizing retrocochlear disorders. Moreover these studies yield contradictory results. Therefore the effect of changing stimulus repetition rates in patients with cochlear lesions as well as retrocochlear disorders was studied, when registering the brainstem potentials. Results show that regarding the three parameters amplitude of potential V, latency of potential V and latency difference of potential I-V, a similar influence of a changing stimulus repetition rate could be observed in normal hearing persons and patients with cochlear lesions. However, in some cases with retrocochlear disorders (acoustic neuroma) the technique demonstrated significantly different changes, regarding the above mentioned parameters. The technique thus proved to be sometimes a useful tool in the differential diagnosis of cochlear and retrocochlear lesions.