Effects of nitrous oxide on auditory cortical evoked potentials and subjective thresholds.

This study has examined the effects of inhaled nitrous oxide on the N1 and P2 components of the cortical auditory evoked potentials (AEP) in the latency interval 80-300 ms after the stimulus. The amplitudes, latencies and thresholds of the AEP were measured at a range of end-tidal nitrous oxide concentrations (0%, 10%, 20%, 40%) in 10 subjects with normal hearing. Systematic decreases in amplitude and latency were observed with an increase in threshold. A study of the effect of stimulus intensity on AEP amplitude showed that the amplitude change with nitrous oxide was accounted for largely by systematic increase in evoked potential threshold. Subjective pure tone thresholds were not affected by the concentrations of nitrous oxide used, indicating that the AEP changes were independent of subjective hearing level.