[Multivariate variability investigations of acoustically evoked slow potentials (AEP) (author's transl)].

By means of the multivariate variance analysis the ratio of intra- and interindividual variability of the AEP--time function was investigated. 90 AEP from 9 normal hearing persons (10 AEP from every person, averaging sessions spread over 10 weeks) were analyzed. The 10 AEP of every person were treated as a random sample. A multivariate pair comparison (single comparison between samples) on the basis of 12 variables (time points) showed only for 1 out of 36 sample pairs no significant differences between the sample averages. By applying the discriminant analysis false classifications resulted only for 7 out of the 90 AEP (approximately 8%). These facts mean, that even throughout the time of 10 weeks the intraindividual differences of the AEP--time behavior are significantly smaller than the interindividual ones.