Effect of Acoustic Intensity on Multichannel Cortical Auditory Evoked Potential Elicited by Spanish Words in Adults with Normal Hearing

This research studied the effect of the acoustic intensity level of four Spanish words on the multichannel Auditory Cortical Evoked Potential (CAEP); the amplitude of the characteristic peaks of this potential (P1, N1, and P2) will depend on the intensity of the stimulus used to elicit it. Eight young adults (four females and four males), within an age range of 18 and 29, with normal hearing, participated in this study. Four disyllabic words (/bota/, /papa/, /lobo/, and /sabor/) and three acoustic intensity levels (20, 40, and 60 dBHL) were used to evoke the CAEP. The amplitudes of the N1 and P2 peaks and N1-P2 inter-peak were analyzed as a function of the acoustic intensity of the stimuli for each word. The significance differences between the mentioned amplitudes and the different intensities were determined using an ANOVA analysis. Linear Regression was used to determine which recording electrodes better reflected the relationship between the amplitudes of the peaks and the stimuli’ acoustic intensity.