Effects of Meditation on Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials

Abstract

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) were measured in five advanced practitioners of Transcendental Meditation (TM) to determine whether such responses would reflect reported increases in perceptual acuity to auditory stimuli following meditation. The BAEP provides an objective physiological index of auditory function at a subcortical level. Repeated measures of the BAEPs of TM practitioners were taken before and after a period of meditation and were compared with those of age-matched controls. Peak latencies as well as interwave latencies between major BAEP components were evaluated. No pre-postmeditation differences for experimental subjects were observed at low stimulus intensities (0-35 dB). At moderate intensities (40-50 dB), latency of the inferior collicular wave (wave V) increased following meditation, but at higher stimulus intensities (55-70 dB), latency of this wave was slightly decreased. Comparison of slopes and intercepts of stimulus intensity-latency functions indicates a possible effect of meditation on brainstem activity.