Auditory Brain Stem Responses Recorded With Uncushioned Earphones

Abstract

Although the cushion is essential to accurate pure-tone audiometry with conventional earphones, it may interfere with the auditory brain stem response (ABR) testing of small infants because of its size and the risk of ear canal collapse. To determine the consequences of ABR testing with an uncushioned earphone, adults were tested with and without the cushion, and probe-tube sound measurements were made. Although removing the cushion results in substantial signal attenuation below 1 kHz, there is little effect on the click-elicited ABR.