Abstract
This tutorial provides a comprehensive overview of the methodological
approach to collecting and analyzing auditory brain stem responses
to complex sounds (cABRs). cABRs provide a window into how behaviorally
relevant sounds such as speech and music are processed in the brain.
Because temporal and spectral characteristics of sounds are preserved
in this subcortical response, cABRs can be used to assess specific
impairments and enhancements in auditory processing. Notably, subcortical
auditory function is neither passive nor hardwired but dynamically
interacts with higher-level cognitive processes to refine how sounds
are transcribed into neural code. This experience-dependent plasticity,
which can occur on a number of time scales (e.g., life-long experience
with speech or music, short-term auditory training, on-line auditory
processing), helps shape sensory perception. Thus, by being an objective
and noninvasive means for examining cognitive function and experience-dependent
processes in sensory activity, cABRs have considerable utility in
the study of populations where auditory function is of interest (e.g.,
auditory experts such as musicians, and persons with hearing loss,
auditory processing, and language disorders). This tutorial is intended
for clinicians and researchers seeking to integrate cABRs into their
clinical or research programs.
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