Binaural interaction component in auditory evoked potentials: characteristics and potential applications in audiology

Since the first report of recording the binaural interaction component (BIC) in 1970, many studies have been conducted on BIC but none of them make its way to clinical application yet. The present paper aims at reviewing the characteristics and potential applications of BIC in audiology.

BIC may be a potentially sensitive objective tool in identifying subjects with auditory processing disorders and monitoring auditory training effects. It can also help effective electrode insertion in bilateral cochlear implantation. Besides, BIC has shed light on the binaural processing maturation in infants. BIC recoding faces some difficulties as it is sensitive to noise and presentation rate, and has low amplitude, especially in brainstem level. These issues might contribute to its limited clinical applications.

Although BIC has not been introduced as an objective tool for testing binaural processing, it has the potential to be a reliable test. Furthermore, BIC may be used in situations where no behavioral test can be conducted. Such circumstances are during cochlear implan tation or testing uncooperative pre-school children for auditory processing or the lack of standard behavioral tests for them. Further research on BIC is highly recommended before it can gain any clinical application.