title: Brain stem auditory-evoked responses in the dog.
abstract: Brain stem auditory-evoked responses (BAER) were recorded from 58 dogs that did not have a known history of hearing problems. The BAER wave forms had an overall mean amplitude approximately 3.0 microV and typically consisted of a series of 4 to 5 vertex-positive peaks (peaks I through V). When acoustic clicks having intensities of 60-dB hearing level (decibels relative to the subjective hearing threshold) were used as stimuli, peak I had a latency of 1.49 +/- 0.13 ms; peak II, 2.32 +/- 0.14 ms; peak III, 3.01 +/- 0.25 ms; peak IV, 4.22 +/- 0.27 ms; and peak V, 5.55 +/- 0.37 ms. Latency values were influenced by a number of nonpathologic factors, including stimulus intensity and the body temperature of the dog. As stimulus intensity was decreased, there was a lengthening of the latency of each peak coupled with a decrease in the overall amplitude of BAER. Decreases in rectal temperature caused a similar lengthening of peak latencies. Age may have an influence on BAER, but under the conditions of the present study, the effect was not significant.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D004566:Electrodes / Q000662:veterinary; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000662:veterinary; D011930:Reaction Time; D012007:Rectum