DOI:10.6129/CJP.201809_60(3).0002
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2018, Vol.60, No.3, 173-190
Auditory Brainstem Response Induced by the Speech Syllable /da/ in Healthy Adults with the Application of a Clinical Auditory Evoked Potential Instrument
Chen-Wei Chang（Department of Special Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University；Department of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences）；Hsiao-Chuan Chen（Department of Special Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University）
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the waveform data of speech-evoked auditory brainstem response (sABR) in normal hearing adults who speak Mandarin and to investigate the gender effect. The stimulus, synthesized consonantvowel monosyllable /da/, was incorporated into a clinical auditory evoked potential (AEP) instrument with clinical parameter settings, such as electrode placement, stimulating, and recording parameters. Twenty bilateral young adults with normal hearing (ten males and ten females) were enrolled in this study. Their average age was 29.00 years (SD = 5.15, range 20–37 years old). With the electrodes placed at Fz-Earlobe-Fpz, speech syllable /da/ was presented to the subjects’ better ear at 80 dB SPL with a rate of 4.3 Hz. Latencies and root mean square (RMS) amplitude of sABR peaks, periodic neural response of fundamental frequency, and composite onset measures (V–A amplitude and V– A slope) were computed and analyzed. Consistency and reproducibility were observed within the corresponding time segment of the neural response waveform. The results also show that there were no gender differences in the above measurements (p > .05). This indicates that a gender effect may not exist at the levels between the auditory brainstem and subcortical regions. Because the measurements of electrophysiological evaluation are susceptible to parametersetting and individual factors, it is suggested that a norm be established before administering the procedure on subjects. This study provides a basis for applying sABR in subjects with different disorders in various disciplines, such as audiology, speech-language disorders, special education, and the neural sciences.
Keywords: normal hearing adult, speech, auditory brainstem response
