[Early auditory evoked potentials, triggered by a sine-wave stimulus (author's transl)].

Within the first 10 ms after a sine-shaped sound wave (tone pip) seven small-amplitude potentials can be recorded in persons with normal hearing and normal brainstem functions. These components, in the nanovolt range, correspond to the electrical activity of various pathways of the auditory tract. In accordance with this view the resulting potentials were assigned to the following structures in the region of the periphery and the brainstem: component I corresponds to the cochlea or acoustic nerve (receptor, II to the cochlear nucleus (medulla), III to the upper olive (caudal pons), IV to the lateral lemniscus (rostral pons), V to the inferior colliculus (midbrain), VI to the medial geniculate body (diencephalon), VII to the acoustic radiation (cortex). Clinically well defined lesions of the acoustic nerve and brainstem indicate that there is a close topographical relationship between the clinical localisation and absence or delay of the individual components.