Response threshold determination of the brain stem auditory evoked response: A comparison of the phase versus magnitude derived from the fast fourier transform

An ensemble of 10 groups of brain stem evoked responses (BAERs), each consisting of 200 sweeps, was collected for different intensity levels and for a no-stimulus condition. A fast Fourier transform was calculated for the separate groups, which permitted a phase variance to be derived. The phase variance was compared to the magnitude value for selected frequency components making up the BAER. It was found that the phase variance was a better predictor of signal than magnitude. The superiority of prediction by phase results from intersubject variation being smaller for phase compared to magnitude.