Modeling auditory evoked brainstem responses to transient stimuli

Filip Munch Rønne, Torsten Dau, James Harte, Claus Elberling
2012 Journal of the Acoustical Society of America  
A quantitative model is presented that describes the formation of auditory brainstem responses (ABR) to tone pulses, clicks and rising chirps as a function of stimulation level. The model computes the convolution of the instantaneous discharge rates using the "humanized" nonlinear auditory-nerve (AN) model of Zilany and Bruce (2007) and an empirically derived unitary response function which is assumed to reflect contributions from different cell populations within the auditory brainstem,
more » ... d at a given pair of electrodes on the scalp. It is shown that the model accounts for the decrease of tone-pulse evoked wave-V latency with frequency but underestimates the level dependency of the tone-pulse as well as click-evoked latency values. Furthermore, the model correctly predicts the nonlinear wave-V amplitude behavior in response to the chirp stimulation both as a function of chirp sweeping rate and level. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that the pattern of ABR generation is strongly affected by the nonlinear and dispersive processes in the cochlea.
doi:10.1121/1.3699171 pmid:22559366 fatcat:kw4glac3lvcd3a5yczaehbbjcq