Comparisons of between‐ and within‐subject variability in repeated‐measures auditory brain‐stem responses (ABRs) in 10‐ to 12‐year‐old children

Abstract

In reports to this Society, and in various publications [J. L. Lauter and R. L. Loomis, Scand Audiol. 15, 167–172 (1986); 17, 87–92 (1988)], results of repeated‐measures ABR testing in young adults have been described, indicating that the variability of peak parameters, such as latency and amplitude, provides information that absolute values of these parameters do not: contrasts in between‐ versus within‐subject consistency, and by ear of stimulation. Nine 10‐ to 12‐year‐old boys were tested in four biweekly sessions, with five ABR waveforms collected in each session for monaural right, monaural left, and binaural clicks. Relative variability measures of ABR latencies reveal adultlike patterns based on nonadult values: (1) contrast in between‐ versus within‐subject consistency; (2) peak differences; and (3) ear differences. There are also differences in within‐ versus between‐session consistency. Preliminary comparisons with results of similar testing in 5‐ to 7‐year‐old children [J. M. Lord‐Maes and J. L. Lauter, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 85, S38 (1989)] and adults suggest that ABR variability may be sensitive to auditory‐system developmental changes that continue long after ABR absolute peak latencies have achieved adult values. [Work supported in part by AFOSR.]