Peak identification of auditory brainstem responses with multi-filters and attributed automaton.

An attributed automaton, a special case of attribute grammar, is a flexible tool in pattern recognition. It allows the utilization of contextual information from previously analyzed patterns in the analysis of the current pattern, and offers the possibility of describing those structural characteristics of patterns which cannot be described by classic methods of syntactic pattern recognition. Auditory brainstem responses are routinely used in audiology and otoneurology. Many studies on using the spectral analysis of averaged auditory brainstem responses have described at least two frequency bands, corresponding to the slow and fast components. Selective non-recursive digital filters for each frequency band in the spectrum of the auditory brainstem response have revealed enhancement or attenuation of components, depending on the band. In this study, multi-filters and an attributed automaton were combined for the identification of peaks.