Age and gender contributions to intersubject variability of the auditory brainstem potentials.

This study of auditory brainstem potentials in 123 normal hearing subjects examines the contributions of age and gender to intersubject variability of the response form and latency. The main features, wave I, wave III, and wave V, and the I-V interval were separately examined in premature infants, neonates, infants, children, and young adults. Perinatal changes in response latency were confirmed and significant additional shortening in the I-V interval was observed through childhood and adolescence. Significant gender differences in I-V interval were also observed in both children and adults. Whereas the age changes were consistent with the effects of myelination on conduction time, the nature and magnitude of the gender differences were in keeping with the differential growth changes in the central nervous system, reflected in the skull diameters of females and males. These two sources of intersubject variability, age and gender, should be considered when using the auditory brainstem potentials in clinical studies.