Abstract
Recording auditory evoked responses (AER) is done not only in hospitals and clinics worldwide to detect hearing impairments and estimate hearing thresholds, but also in research centers to understand and model the mechanisms involved in the process of hearing. This paper describes a high-performance, flexible, and inexpensive AER recording system. A full description of the hardware and software modules that compose the AER recording system is provided. The performance of this system was evaluated by conducting five experiments with both real and artificially synthesized auditory brainstem response and middle latency response signals at different intensity levels and stimulation rates. The results indicate that the flexibility of the described system is appropriate to record AER signals under several recording conditions. The AER recording system described in this article is a flexible and inexpensive high-performance AER recording system. This recording system also incorporates a platform through which users are allowed to implement advanced signal processing methods. Moreover, its manufacturing cost is significantly lower than that of other commercially available alternatives. These advantages may prove useful in many research applications in audiology.
Acknowledgments
This research has been supported through a grant by the project “Design, implementation and evaluation of an advanced system for recording Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) based in encoded signaling” (TEC2009-14245), R&D National Plan (2008-2011), Ministry of Economy and Competivity (Government of Spain) and “European Regional Development fund Programme” (2007-2013); by the “Granada Excellence Network of Innovation Laboratories-Startup Projects for Young Researchers Programme” (GENIL-PYR 2014), Campus of International Excellence, Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (Government of Spain); and by the grant “Formación de Profesorado Universitario” (FPU) (AP2009-3150), Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports (Government of Spain).
Conflict of interest statement
There are no conflicts of interest associated with this research article. The authors have no financial involvement or interest with any organization or company about subjects or materials discussed in the paper.
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Supplemental Material
The online version of this article (DOI: 10.1515/bmt-2014-0034) offers supplementary material, available to authorized users.
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