The choice of distracting task can affect the quality of auditory evoked potentials recorded for clinical assessment.

Full Abstract

Auditory evoked potential (AEP) recordings often require subjects to ignore the stimuli and stay awake. In the present experiment, early (ABR), middle (MLR), and late latency (LLR) AEPs were recorded to compare the effect of five different distracting tasks:
(1) doing nothing eyes open, (2) reading, (3) watching a movie, (4) solving a three-digit sum, and (5) doing nothing eyes closed (or counting the stimuli for LLR). Results showed that neither the amplitudes nor the latencies of the ABR, MLR, or LLR were affected by task. However, the amount of pre-stimulus activity (noise) or amplitude rejection was significantly and differently affected by the distracting task. For the ABR, the math task was the noisiest but, for the MLR, the amount of noise was greater when watching a movie. As for the LLR, reading and watching a movie yielded the lowest percentage of rejected traces. In conclusion, the choice of distracting task depends on the AEP being measured and should be chosen to improve the quality of the AEP traces and thus reduce recording time.

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Author information

Author/s: Lavoie, Brigitte A (BA); Hine, Jemma E (JE); Thornton, Roger D (RD);

Affiliation: MRC Institute of Hearing Research, Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton, UK. balavoie(-atsign-)soton.ac.uk

Grants: (Agency:United Kingdom Medical Research Council)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Evaluation Studies; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: International journal of audiology (Int J Audiol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jul; vol 47 (issue 7) : pp 439-44

Dates: Created 2008/06/24; Completed 2008/07/25;

PMID: 18574782, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Attention
Audiometry, Evoked Response - methods
Evoked Potentials, Auditory

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