Human Auditory Evoked Potentials

This book reviews how we can record the human brain's response to sounds, and how we can use these recordings to assess hearing. These recordings are used in many different clinical situations--the identification of hearing impairment in newborn infants, the detection of tumors on the auditory nerve, the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. As well they are used to investigate how the brain is able to hear--how we can attend to particular conversations at a cocktail party and ignore others, how we learn to understand the language we are exposed to, why we have difficulty hearing when we grow old. This book is written by a single author with wide experience in all aspects of these recordings. The content is complete in terms of the essentials. The style is clear; equations are absent and figures are multiple. The intent of the book is to make learning enjoyable and meaningful. Allusions are made to fields beyond the ear, and the clinical importance of the phenomena is always considered.

Reviews

"4 STARS! The book is conceptually divided into three major sections. The first section provides in-depth background on the measurement of auditory evoked potentials, including basic physiological concepts and general measurement considerations. The second section outlines specific auditory evoked potentials and the measurement of those responses. The third section covers specific applications of auditory evoked potentials, including infant hearing assessment, neurotology, auditory neuropathy, and cochlear implants. This group of chapters provides a unique perspective on the applications for auditory evoked potentials. This [book] is a comprehensive overview of a wide range of auditory evoked responses for clinicians and researchers. The chapters on applications of auditory evoked potentials for neurotology, auditory neuropathy, and cochlear implants are important elements."
—Ryan McCreery, M.S.(Boys Town National Research Hospital), DOODY'S REVIEWS (December 2010)

"This book is much more than a simple summary of what is known about AEPs: it is full of scientific and clinical insights. It includes many discussions of topics that are incompletely understood, and where there is conflicting evidence. This book is a must-read for anyone who is considering a dissertation in the area of AEPs, or anyone else beginning to work in this area...very well written. It is filled with plenty of helpful figures. Robert Burkard, Department of Rehabilitation Science, University of Buffalo Journal of the Acoustical Society of America"
—Robert Burkard, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (July 2012)

". . . nothing less than excellent. The book covers most of the aspects in which the study of auditory evoked potentials has contributed to expand our physiological knowledge along the past 35 years . . . this book makes an enjoyable reading for those that use some form of auditory evoked potentials for their clinical or research work and are interested in learning about other aspects of such a widespread subject involving neurologists, physiologists, psychologists, neuro-otologists and other specialists and researchers in the field."
—Josep Valls-Sole, Neurotology Dept., Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain, Clinical Neurophysiology (July 2012)

Preface
1) Introduction: Past, Present, and Potential
2) Recording Evoked Potentials: Means to an End
3) Frequency Domain: Music of the Hemispheres
4) Finding Sources: Forward and Backward
5) Acoustic Stimuli: Sounds to Charm the Brain
6) Interpreting the Waveforms: Time and Uncertainty
7) Electrocochleography: From Song to Synapse
8) Auditory Brainstem Responses: Peaks Along the Way
9) Middle-Latency Responses: The Brain and the Brawn
10) Auditory Steady-State and Following Responses: Dancing to the Rhythms
11) Late Auditory Evoked Potentials: Changing the Things Which Are
12) Endogenous Auditory Evoked Potentials: Attention Must Be Paid
13) Infant Hearing Assessment: Opening Ears
14) Neurotology and Neurology: From Cochlea to Cortex
15) Auditory Neuropathy: When Time is Broke
16) Cochlear Implants: Body Electric
17) Concluding Comments: Beginning to Live
Index