Auditory brainstem evoked responses in young hearing impaired individuals with and without amplification (hearing aids)

The relation between the auditory brainstem response and the psychological responses to acoustic clicks in an aided condition was studied. These results were compared to the KEMAR responses using the same acoustic stimulus as for the auditory brainstem response measures. Results indicate that the hearing aid is the primary limiting factor in using the auditory brainstem responses for amplification selection. Measures of gain, maximum power output, output limiting, and dynamic range may be estimated using the auditory brainstem response measure. There is a casual relationship of these measures to behavioral thresholds, most comfortable listening levels, and the loudness discomfort level. It was found that click rates of less than 5 per second must be utilized due to the processing characteristics of the hearing aid.