Asymmetry in the auditory brainstem response following experience of monaural amplification

Hearing aids can induce perceptual changes in some elderly listeners and there is recent evidence that this might be associated with reorganization within the auditory system. We compared the click-evoked auditory brainstem response in adults with and without monaural hearing aid experience. In listeners with monaural hearing aid experience, the mean peak-to-peak amplitude between wave V and SN10 was approximately 100 nV larger in the ear with hearing aid experience and this difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). The response was symmetrical in adults with no hearing aid experience. This suggests that hearing aids can induce physiological changes at the level of the auditory brainstem in elderly monaural hearing aid users.