Lavoie Brigitte A, Mehta R, Thornton A R D
MRC Institute of Hearing Research, Royal South Hants Hospital, Brintons Terrace, Off St Mary's Road, Southampton, Hants SO14 OYG, United Kingdom.
Clin Neurophysiol. 2008 Apr;119(4):772-85. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2007.12.004. Epub 2008 Mar 4.
This experiment was designed to characterize the changes in linear and nonlinear temporal interactions in the aging auditory brainstem of humans using maximum length sequence (MLS) stimulation.
The MLS technique uses a quasi-random sequence of clicks and silences to determine the linear (linear averaging of single responses) and nonlinear (interactions between pairs or triplets of responses) temporal interactions in the auditory brainstem response (ABR). A group of 30 normal hearing females aged between 11 and 61years were tested. They were divided in three groups: young (<24years); middle (24-41years) and old (>41years).
The linear component showed a decrease in wave 5 amplitude with age which could also be related to increased thresholds for higher frequencies. The nonlinear component of the MLS-ABR showed significant differences between middle and old groups for wave 1 and 5 latencies and inter-wave interval (1-5).
The results suggest that the linear and nonlinear components of the MLS-ABR could be more sensitive to changes occurring in the auditory system before any functionally significant changes in hearing status.
The nonlinear components of the auditory brainstem could be used as an investigative tool to assess early changes in the aging auditory brainstem in young middle-aged women.
本实验旨在利用最大长度序列（MLS）刺激来描述人类衰老听觉脑干中线性和非线性时间相互作用的变化。
MLS技术使用一系列准随机的滴答声和静音来确定听觉脑干反应（ABR）中的线性（单个反应的线性平均）和非线性（反应对或三联体之间的相互作用）时间相互作用。对一组30名年龄在11至61岁之间的正常听力女性进行了测试。她们被分为三组：年轻组（<24岁）；中年组（24 - 41岁）和老年组（>41岁）。
线性成分显示，随着年龄增长，波5的振幅下降，这也可能与高频阈值升高有关。MLS - ABR的非线性成分在中年组和老年组之间，波1和波5的潜伏期以及波间期（1 - 5）存在显著差异。
结果表明，在听力状态出现任何功能上显著变化之前，MLS - ABR的线性和非线性成分可能对听觉系统中发生的变化更敏感。
听觉脑干的非线性成分可作为一种研究工具，用于评估年轻中年女性衰老听觉脑干的早期变化。
