VARIABILITY OF AMPLITUDE AND AREA OF THE AUDITORY-NERVE COMPOUND ACTION-POTENTIAL

The strength of neural response to sensory stimuli is often estimated by measurement of the amplitude of gross neural potentials. These gros s potentials reflect the summed activity of a population of neurons. T he amplitude of these potentials is dependent upon the synchrony of th e contributing neural responses. We compared the variability of the pe ak-to-peak amplitude of the auditory nerve compound action potential ( CAP) with that of the area under the peaks. The area under the peaks w as significantly less variable than the amplitude for responses to low frequency stimuli. Responses to other stimuli showed differences in t he same direction, but these were not significant, We conclude that th e area under these peaks is a more precise measure of neural response than measurement of waveform amplitude, at least for responses to low frequency stimuli.