Physiological (waves I and V) and psychophysical tuning curves in human subjects

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Abstract
Tuning curves obtained on wave I (VIII nerve) and wave V of the auditory brainstem response were recorded simultaneously with ear-canal and forehead electrodes. On these same human subjects using the same acoustic stimuli psychophysical tuning curves were also measured. For each subject, the 3 tuning curves were qualitatively similar; intra- and inter-subject quantitative differences were present. The best agreement was between the psychophysical and the wave V tuning curves. The wave I tuning curve differed from the other 2 mainly on the high-frequency side by showing a wider response area. The main difference between both physiological tuning curves, and the psychophysical tuning curve, occurred near center frequency of the probe signal: Physiological tuning curves had deeper tips in comparison to the psychophysical tuning curves which had shallow rounded tips. This might be due to energy splatter of the short-duration signal which can significantly effect psychophysical judgments while minimally contributing to the physiological responses. A precise measure of tuning sharpness was difficult to obtain; the response area of wave I appears to be more biased towards high-frequency cochlear neurons than either wave V or psychophysical judgments. Tuning curves are a viable method of relating physiological to psychophysical measurements in human subjects.

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