Effect of Stimulus Rate and Gender on Auditory Middle Latency Response in Young Adults

Effect of Stimulus Rate and Gender on Auditory Middle Latency Response in Young Adults

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of stimulus rate and gender on the latency and amplitude of the auditory middle latency response (AMLR) in Korean young females and males. Methods: A total of thirty young subjects consisting of fifteen males and fifteen females participated in the study. The stimulus repetition rate was changed in five steps: 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 8/s. Results: The results showed significant differences of the stimulus rates on the Na latency, Pa amplitude, and Nb amplitude. With faster stimulus rates, the Na latency and the Nb amplitude slightly increased while the Pa amplitude decreased. The Na, Pa, and Nb latencies were longest with the stimulus rate of 2/s. The Na and Nb amplitudes were largest with the stimulus rate of 4/s while the Pb amplitude was largest with the stimulus rate of 1/s. There were significant differences in the latency of Na and the amplitudes of Na, Pa, Nb, and Pb according to gender. The latencies of Na, Pa, Nb, and Pb in females were longer than in males while the amplitudes of Na, Pa, Nb, and Pb in males are larger than in females. Conclusion: The ranges of optimal stimulus rate to elicit the apparent AMLR waveform were 1-8/s. This provides clinical basic data of stimulus rate and gender-specific norms on the latency and amplitude of the AMLR waveform.