Measurement of cochlear basilar membrane traveling wave velocity by derived ABR.

Auditory brainstem response (ABR) can be used to measure the basilar membrane traveling wave velocity (TWV). Traveling wave velocity was calculated from the latency difference between wave V of different derived ABR and the cochlear location distance between the appropriate derived band center frequency. The latency of wave V of derived ABR produced by 6 noise-masked ABR using high pass filtered noise and the location of the corresponding cochlear partition (distance from the stapes foot-plate) were measured, and five traveling wave velocities were estimated based on this parameter. Ten subjects with normal hearing, 7 patients with Meniere's disease, and 8 patients with sensorineural hearing loss were used in this study. The traveling wave velocity in the sensorineural hearing loss group was within normal limits at all frequencies, whereas the traveling wave velocity at 8 kHz in the Meniere group greatly exceeded that of the normal and sensorineural hearing loss group.