The development of auditory evoked dipole source activity from childhood to adulthood

Objective: Multi-channel recordings show that observed developmental changes of late auditory evoked potentials (LAEP) depend on the location of the scalp electrode. These findings suggest that different LAEP generators have a distinct developmental course. The goal of this study was to investigate the maturational process of cortical LAEP generators. Methods: Eighty-seven healthy children and adolescents with normal hearing, ages 5–16 years, and 21 adults, ages 20–30 years, participated in the study. Pure tone LAEP were recorded from 21 derivations. Dipole source analysis was performed by means of brain electric source analysis (BESA). Peak latencies and amplitudes of dipole source activity were estimated. Results: While the number, location, and direction of dipole sources were similar in children and adults, the course of their activity differed greatly. The latencies shortened and the amplitudes decreased during development. In adolescence a new component appeared in the activity of the tangential dipole, which reflects the generators in the supra-temporal plane. The variability of parameters was greater in children than in adults. Conclusions: Since the dipole source activity of LAEP in childhood differs considerably from that in adulthood, dipole source analysis could be a useful tool for studying both normal and disturbed maturation of the auditory perceptual function.