title: Differences in responses from the cochleae and central nervous systems of females with low versus high acceptable noise levels.
abstract: Studies of acceptable noise level (ANL) consistently report large intersubject variability in acceptance of background noise while listening to speech. This variability is not related to age, gender, hearing sensitivity, type of background noise, speech perception in noise performance, or efferent activity of the medial olivocochlear pathway. An exploratory study was conducted to determine if differences in aggregate responses from the peripheral and central auditory system can account for intersubject variability in ANL. Click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs), binaural auditory brainstem responses (ABRs), and middle latency responses (MLRs) were measured in females with normal hearing with low (n = 6) versus high (n = 7) ANLs. Results of this preliminary study indicate no differences between the groups for CEOAEs or waves I or III of the ABR. Differences between the two groups emerge for the amplitudes of wave V of the ABR and for the Na-Pa component of the MLR, suggesting that physiological variations arising from more central regions of the auditory system may mediate background noise acceptance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37996-0740, USA. aharkrid@utk.edu
authors.forename: Ashley W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Harkrider
authors.forename: Joanna W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Tampas
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology*; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009622:Noise; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests