A Feasibility Study of Commercially Available Audio Transducers in ABR Studies

摘要

Among numerous sources of electrical interference, stimulus artifact produced by the audio transducer (typically headphones or earphones) affects the features of an auditory Brainstem Response (ABR). At high stimulus intensities, artifacts may create a serious problem because they extend into the time frame of the ABR. The stimulus artifact depends upon the type of transducer and the electrode arrangements used. At present, expensive and complex methods are being employed to eliminate this problem. This paper presents data recorded from a phantom head and human participants with two of the most common electrode arrangements to investigate the artifacts produced by different audio transducers. Additionally, the quality of the ABR produced by each transducer was studied through absolute latencies of wave I, II, III and V. Several commercially available audio transducers were tested, including supra-aural, circum-aural, ear-bud and in-ear transducer types with moving coil (dynamic) technology. For the point of comparison, standard TDH-49 and TDH-39 headphones for ABR studies were also used. Our results indicate that in general, the artifact present in commercially available audio transducers is of a similar level to that with the standard headphones. The quality of the ABRs produced using these audio transducers at a high intensity level were found to be normal. However, with some responses, small aberrations were noticed. We thus describe a method to benchmark new audio devices before using them in practice.