Effect of Stimulation Parameters on Electrically Evoked Auditory Brainstem Responses

Abstract

It is evident that the conventional technique for cochlear implant adjustment is not suitable for children in their first years of life. In order to find a solution to this problem, the possibility of electrically evoked auditory brainstem response (EABR) recording was investigated. EABRs were recorded in 9 patients with the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant. The main problems that have to be solved during EABR recording in cochlear implantees are: i) EABR distortion due to the stimulus artefact; and ii) difference in the stimulus presentation rate during EABR registration (low pulse rate) and conventional psychophysical threshold estimation (high pulse rate) in cochlear implant patients. The influence of stimulus artefact on the recording results was minimized by setting the implant to the widest amplifier frequency band and by zeroing the initial segment containing the stimulus artefact with subsequent zero-phase digital filtering. The dependence of the EABR amplitude and latency on the stimulus intensity, width, electrode location and interstimulus interval was investigated. It was concluded that despite the difference revealed between absolute values of EABR thresholds and psychophysical threshold levels, it is possible to calculate implant adjustment parameters based on the EABR data with the proper correction applied.