title: Comparison between the frequency specificities of auditory brainstem response thresholds to clicks with and without high-pass masking noise.
abstract: In this study, the frequency specificity of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) threshold to a click masked with 1590-Hz high-pass masking noise is compared with the frequency specificity of the unmasked click-evoked ABR threshold. The ABR threshold to the high-pass-noise-masked click stimulus is low frequency specific and corresponds with the 1,000-Hz pure-tone threshold. Although the ABR threshold to the unmasked click stimulus corresponds with the '3,000'-Hz pure-tone threshold, the frequency specificity seems much less pronounced than that of the low-frequency-specific stimulus. This study shows, however, that this apparent lack of frequency specificity can be attributed to the selection of pure-tone hearing losses. The ABR threshold evoked by an unmasked click stimulus is, therefore, preeminently useful as a high-frequency point of a two-point audiogram. The possible reasons why the ABR threshold evoked by a broad-band stimulus as the unmasked click corresponds with the higher frequencies of the pure-tone audiogram are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Conijn
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Brocaar
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: van Zanten
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: van der Drift
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000162:Acoustics; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009622:Noise; D010470:Perceptual Masking