When auditory brain stem responses (ABRs and/or FFRs) are collected from three orthogonally placed electrode pairs and voltage is plotted in three-dimensional space, a three-dimensional Lissajous figure is derived. Segments of the Lissajous figure (roughly corresponding to the beginning and ending points of individual waves in the classically recorded ABR or to the beginning and ending points of the plateau region in the scalp-recorded FFR) form planar-curves. ABRs elicited by click stimuli and FFRs elicited by low frequency tone bursts were collected from a group of adult animal (cat) and human subjects to investigate (in a preliminary manner) some of the consequences of this recording and analysis technique. Among the results were the following: (1) The formation of planes appears to be a consequence of a systematic change in the focus of synchronous input, as a function of time, and of the fact that auditory nuclei are for the most part geometrically ordered. (2) Planar-curve position appears to be determined by spectral content of stimuli, and by the dimensions and orientations of the electrical output of ABR generators. (3) Planar-curve size increases (usually in only one preferred direction) as stimulus intensity is increased, reflecting presumably patterns of excitation within generators as stimulus intensity is increased. These results suggest that: (1) Placement of electrode pairs orthogonally around the head allows for efficient recording of dipole activity in any direction, irregardless of the orientation of the dipole. (2) Information in these different waveforms plotted three-dimensionally constitutes extraction of spatial information that could not be visualized in ABR or FFR waveforms recorded using only single electrode pair techniques. [Work supported by Hearing Research, Inc.]