TEMPORAL STABILITY OF AUDITORY-EVOKED POTENTIALS AT DIFFERENT STIMULATION RATES

1. We determined the temporal stability of the N1 and P2 waves of the auditory evoked potentials (AEP) for twelve healthy subjects who were tested in two sessions separated by 2 to 63 days (mean = 25 days). AEP were obtained at two different stimulation rates (1/s and 0.3/s). In addition to wave amplitude and latency, the latency difference and the amplitude ratio between the two stimulation rates were calculated. 2. Mean amplitudes, latencies, latency differences and amplitude ratios were not significantly different between the two sessions. Pearson's c orrelation was significant only for N1 latency at the 1/s stimulation rate (r = 0.64, P = 0.02). 3. Factors such as arousal and other subjec tive states of the subjects, personality traits, as well as technical aspects of the examinations, may have influenced the temporal stabilit y ofthe AEP.