Computer-assisted ABR interpretation using the automatic construction of the latency-intensity curve.

In this paper, we present a new computerised technique for the automatic construction of the latency intensity curve (LI curve). We take a pattern recognition approach determined by a priori information. We use knowledge gained from the audiogram and from physiological considerations. Therefore, we consider all recordings at different intensities as well as results from the extraction of a single auditory brainstem response (ABR) at a given stimulus intensity. We tested our method successfully: it allows us to prevent misrecognition errors in response detection or in latency measurements. Automatic recognition of the waves and recognition by the ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist coincided in at least 90 per cent of cases. For wave V, the average deviation between the response thresholds given by our automatic recognition algorithm and those given by the ENT specialist was 5 dB, and the average deviation of the latencies was 0.05 ms.