Stimulus dependencies of the gerbil brain-stem auditory-evoked response (BAER). I: Effects of click level, rate, and polarity.

Three experiments evaluating the effects of various stimulus manipulations on the click-evoked gerbil brain-stem auditory-evoked response (BAER) are reported. In experiment 1, click polarity and level were covaried. With increasing click level, there is a parallel decrease in the latency of the first five BAER peaks (i-v) and an increase in BAER peak amplitudes. Mean wave i amplitude was greater for rarefaction than condensation clicks at high click levels; mean wave v amplitude was greater for condensation clicks at higher click levels. Experiment 2 covaried click rate and polarity. The latency of the BAER peaks increased with increasing click repetition rate. This rate-dependent latency increase was greater for the later BAER peaks, resulting in an increase in the i-v interval with increasing click rate. As rate increased, the amplitudes of waves i and v decreased monotonically, whereas the amplitudes of waves ii-iv were largely uninfluenced by click rate. As in experiment 1, mean wave i amplitude was greater for rarefaction clicks, whereas mean wave v amplitude was greater for condensation clicks. The magnitude of these polarity dependencies on waves i and v amplitude decreased with increasing click rate. Experiment 3 evaluated the effects of click polarity on BAERs to high-intensity (100 dB pSPL) clicks presented at a rate of 10 Hz. In eight of ten gerbils evaluated, wave i amplitude was greater to rarefaction clicks, and, in all ten animals, wave v amplitude was greater to condensation clicks. The effects of click level and rate on BAER peak amplitudes, latencies, and interwave intervals are reminiscent of stimulus dependencies reported for the human BAER. The effects of click polarity on the amplitudes of waves i and v of the gerbil BAER have also been reported for the human BAER.