Electrophysiological Approach for Binaural Hearing
Abstract
As we age, the ability to process auditory information between the two ears as well as the ability to fuse information from the opposing sides is diminished, resulting in issues listening in adverse environments with background noise present. The binaural interaction component (BIC) of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) provides an objective representation of the binaural processing. This study aimed to establish normative data for the BIC utilizing the ABR for analysis. This study provided data for an ongoing study analyzing the BIC in the aging population, in order to objectively assess the electrophysiological changes that occur during natural aging. The present study examined 12 normal hearing participants that are serving as a reference point for comparison with data from older adults in a broader project investigating age-related declines in binaural interaction. A comprehensive hearing assessment was conducted to evaluate the hearing status of each subject. Three auditory subtests (Auditory Figure Ground +0dB, Masking Level Difference-500Hz, and Spondee Binaural Fusion) were administered to assess monaural low redundancy, binaural interaction and spatial processing, and dichotic listening. The auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were performed last, with a click stimulus screener being presented, followed by both 250Hz and 500Hz tone burst (TB) stimuli in both monaural and binaural conditions at 100 dB peSPL. Wave V and Wave VI peaks were used to analyze the presence of the BIC. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to examine associations between the waveforms and the binaural behavioral measures. Results indicated reduced 250 Hz TB-evoked Wave VI BIC and 500 Hz TB-evoked Wave V BIC were associated with poorer behavioral performance. These findings suggested that low-frequency BIC may serve as an electrophysiological marker of binaural processing.
Start Time
16-4-2025 9:00 AM
End Time
16-4-2025 11:30 AM
Presentation Type
Poster
Presentation Category
Health
Student Type
Graduate Student - Doctoral
Faculty Mentor
Dr. So Park
Faculty Department
Audiology and Speech Language Pathology
Electrophysiological Approach for Binaural Hearing
As we age, the ability to process auditory information between the two ears as well as the ability to fuse information from the opposing sides is diminished, resulting in issues listening in adverse environments with background noise present. The binaural interaction component (BIC) of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) provides an objective representation of the binaural processing. This study aimed to establish normative data for the BIC utilizing the ABR for analysis. This study provided data for an ongoing study analyzing the BIC in the aging population, in order to objectively assess the electrophysiological changes that occur during natural aging. The present study examined 12 normal hearing participants that are serving as a reference point for comparison with data from older adults in a broader project investigating age-related declines in binaural interaction. A comprehensive hearing assessment was conducted to evaluate the hearing status of each subject. Three auditory subtests (Auditory Figure Ground +0dB, Masking Level Difference-500Hz, and Spondee Binaural Fusion) were administered to assess monaural low redundancy, binaural interaction and spatial processing, and dichotic listening. The auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were performed last, with a click stimulus screener being presented, followed by both 250Hz and 500Hz tone burst (TB) stimuli in both monaural and binaural conditions at 100 dB peSPL. Wave V and Wave VI peaks were used to analyze the presence of the BIC. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to examine associations between the waveforms and the binaural behavioral measures. Results indicated reduced 250 Hz TB-evoked Wave VI BIC and 500 Hz TB-evoked Wave V BIC were associated with poorer behavioral performance. These findings suggested that low-frequency BIC may serve as an electrophysiological marker of binaural processing.