Brain stem auditory evoked potentials: a comparative study of monaural versus binaural stimulation in the detection of multiple sclerosis.

As the latency of these responses is the most stable measure in normal subjects, the present study examines the latency of the BAEP wave forms in multiple sclerosis (MS) with a view to comparing a monaural stimulation with binaural. In previous studies binaural stimulation has been used to detect MS in clinically 'definite' cases. In this study both clinically definite and possible MS cases were examined and it was shown that in the clinically definite MS category the detection rate improved from 70% to 90% with ipsilateral/contralateral stimulation. In the possible multiple sclerosis group the detection rate was negligible with binaural stimulation compared to 67% with monaural stimulation. Both inter-wave latency and the repeatability of the response in the different groups are discussed in detail.