Recording of electrically evoked auditory brainstem responses (E-ABR) with an integrated stimulus generator in Matlab

J Neurosci Methods. 2008 Aug 30;173(2):306-14. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2008.06.012. Epub 2008 Jun 24.

Abstract

Electrical auditory brainstem responses (E-ABRs) of subjects with cochlear implants are used for monitoring the physiologic responses of early signal processing of the auditory system. Additionally, E-ABR measurements allow the diagnosis of retro-cochlear diseases. Therefore, E-ABR should be available in every cochlear implant center as a diagnostic tool. In this paper, we introduce a low-cost setup designed to perform an E-ABR as well as a conventional ABR for research purposes. The distributable form was developed with Matlab and the Matlab Compiler (The Mathworks Inc.). For the ABR, only a PC with a soundcard, conventional system headphones, and an EEG pre-amplifier are necessary; for E-ABR, in addition, an interface to the cochlea implant is required. For our purposes, we implemented an interface for the Combi 40+/Pulsar implant (MED-EL, Innsbruck).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Audiometry, Evoked Response / instrumentation
  • Audiometry, Evoked Response / methods*
  • Auditory Pathways / physiology
  • Brain Stem / physiology
  • Cochlear Implants / standards*
  • Electric Stimulation / instrumentation
  • Electric Stimulation / methods
  • Electroencephalography / instrumentation
  • Electroencephalography / methods*
  • Electronics, Medical / standards
  • Electronics, Medical / trends
  • Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / physiology*
  • Hearing Loss, Central / diagnosis*
  • Humans
  • Medical Illustration
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / instrumentation
  • Software*
  • User-Computer Interface