title: Interaural attenuation using etymotic ER-3A insert earphones in auditory brain stem response testing.
abstract: Click interaural attenuation (IA) was measured behaviorally and with the auditory brain stem response (ABR) in two unilaterally deaf adults with Etymotic ER-3A insert earphones, and TDH-39P and TDH-49P supraaural earphones. Stimulus crossover for each set of earphones was also determined with pure-tone audiometry. Pure-tone results agreed with previous research, showing that the ER-3A provided substantially greater IA than the supraaural earphones, particularly for low frequencies. For click stimuli, behavioral and ABR results revealed only modest, if any, improvement in IA with the ER-3A relative to the supraaural earphones. The results of this study suggest that while the ER-3A earphones provide a clear IA advantage for behavioral pure-tone audiometry, they do not eliminate the need for contralateral masking of click stimuli in ABR testing.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee.
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Van Campen
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Sammeth
authors.forename: B F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Peek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001299:Audiometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001300:Audiometry, Evoked Response / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D003638:Deafness / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male