Neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and central auditory assessment. Part I: Brain stem.

This paper is the first in a series of three that address neuroanatomical and neurophysiological aspects of central auditory assessment. The focus of this article is the "auditory" brain stem. Pictures of the auditory structures in the human brain stem in normal and pathological states are shown. Physiological evidence of neural coding of acoustic stimuli is discussed. Relationships between brain stem anatomy/physiology and clinical test results and their interpretation are highlighted.