Comparison of Beyer DT48 and etymotic insert earphones: auditory brain stem response measurements.
Click-evoked auditory brain stem responses (ABRs) were measured using a Beyer DT48 circumaural earphone and an Etymotic ER-3A insert earphone in a group of normal-hearing subjects. Comparisons were made between time waveforms and amplitude spectra for the two transducers. ABR waveforms, latencies, and thresholds were compared for the two transducers. Click-evoked ABR and behavioral thresholds were comparable for the two earphones. In addition, absolute response-component latencies differed by an amount that was equivalent to the travel time introduced by the insert earphone's sound-delivery tube. Inter-peak latency differences were virtually identical. These findings suggest that the insert earphone is a viable transducer for clinical ABR evaluations. Further, a temporal correction may be all that is necessary to account for the difference between the insert earphone and the circumaural earphone if other characteristics of the transducers are similar.
Beauchaine
K A
KA
Boys Town National Institute for Communication Disorders in Children, Omaha, Nebraska.
Kaminski
J R
JR
Gorga
M P
MP
D001309:Auditory Threshold; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D014159:Transducers