[Effects, on early auditory evoked potentials, of road traffic noise, of benzodiazepine and their combination].

In this study, 30 young men and 30 young women (with the same proportion of anxious persons in each group) were submitted, in random order, to: i) a road traffic noise of 75 dBA for 15 min; ii) this same noise for 15 min, having ingested 0.25 mg of alprazolam (Xanax*) 1 h before; iii) uniquely 0.25 mg of alprazolam. The auditory brainstem evoked potentials (ABEP) were taken before and after exposure to noise (for the non-noise case, we respected the same time schedule). The alprazolam had an effect on the cochlea and can be considered as a noise adaptation factor on the auditory pathways explored by the ABEP.