Comparison of the cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEP) recorded with speech and with frequency spectrum comparable noise stimuli in normal hearing children.

CAEP can be evoked with a variety of stimuli with and without hearing aids. They offer a possibility to objectively obtain aided responses to complex stimuli. P1 can be used as a measurement tool for the evaluation of the benefit from amplification, as well as for the evaluation of auditory pathway maturation in children. The aim of this study was to investigate CAEP wave identifiability and latencies after different syllable and noise stimuli in different age groups.

In 30 normal hearing children, CAEP were recorded after stimulation with syllable stimuli: Ba (center frequency (f_C)  = 600 Hz), Ga (f_C  = 2 kHz), and Sa (f_C  = 6 kHz), a 1 kHz tone pip, and three frequency spectrums matching band noises: 70-1000 Hz, 1-3 kHz, and 3-6 kHz. The stimuli were presented through a loudspeaker 1 m in front of the child at 60 dB and 50 dB SPL.

CAEP showed an excellent identifiability in children (92.3 to 100% at 60 dB SPL). Correlation analysis showed a significant negative correlation between subject age and P1 latency for all stimuli. Changing the stimulus did not result in statistically significant differences in P1 latency. Comparing the syllable stimuli to the frequency spectrum matched noise revealed a smaller scatter of the data with the noise.

CAEP can be reliably recorded with speech and noise stimuli at different frequencies in children. Clinical use of CAEP for the assessment of auditory pathway maturation and objective aided response determination for speech stimuli is possible and provides a useful addition for the subjective findings. CAEP was not significantly affected by the change of stimuli in the present work.

Publication History

Article published online:
24 May 2022