Auditory brainstem response

The auditory brainstem response is a series of electrical signals generated by the auditory nerve and brainstem after sound stimulation. It is recorded with scalp electrodes and used to assess auditory pathway function.

Auditory evoked potential: An electrical response of the nervous system elicited by sound or another auditory stimulus. The auditory brainstem response is a short-latency subtype of this broader class.
Newborn hearing screening: Testing shortly after birth to identify infants who may have hearing loss. Automated brainstem-response testing can screen infants who cannot provide behavioral responses.
Electroencephalography: A method for recording electrical activity of the brain using electrodes placed on the scalp. The test uses scalp electrodes to detect tiny, time-locked neural signals.
Pure-tone audiometry: A behavioral hearing test that measures the faintest pure tones detectable at selected frequencies. Unlike the brainstem response, it requires a reliable behavioral report.
Auditory nerve: The bundle of nerve fibers carrying sound information from the cochlea to the brainstem. Its synchronized activity produces the earliest prominent response wave.
Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder: A hearing disorder in which sound detection is relatively preserved but neural transmission from the inner ear is impaired or dys-synchronous. Absent or abnormal responses despite preserved cochlear emissions can support its diagnosis.
Auditory stimulus: A sound presented to evoke or measure a response in the auditory system. Stimulus intensity, frequency, and repetition rate shape the recorded waveform.
Cochlear microphonic: An electrical potential that follows the waveform of sound and is generated mainly by cochlear hair cells. It reflects cochlear receptor activity rather than the later neural peaks of the response.
Cochlear nucleus: A group of auditory processing nuclei in the brainstem that receives input from the auditory nerve. Neural activity here contributes to later waves in the recorded response.
Click-evoked auditory brainstem response: An auditory brainstem response elicited by brief broadband clicks. Clicks produce a synchronized response useful for screening and assessing neural timing.

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