[Correlation between Mandarin acceptable noise level and cortical auditory evoked potential in young normal-hearing listeners].

Objective:To investigate the correlation between Mandarin acceptable noise level （M-ANL） and cortical auditory evoked potential （CAEP）, and to explore the possible mechanism leading to individual differences in M-ANL values. Methods:Thirty listeners aged 22-33 years with normal hearing were selected as the study subjects, and the M-ANL test and CAEP test were performed respectively. The most comfortable level （MCL）, maximum background noise level （BNL）, M-ANL and CAEP values of each subject were recorded. The latency of each wave of P1, N1, P2, N2, P300 and the amplitude of P1-N1, P2-N2, P300 in CAEP were recorded for each subject. SPSS 25.0 was used for statistical analysis to explore the correlation between the MCL value, BNL value and M-ANL values and the latency of P1, N1, P2, N2, P300 and P1-N1, P2-N2, P300 amplitudes of CAEP. Results:①The MCL value and M-ANL value were positively correlated with the P2 latency of CAEP, and the correlation coefficients were 0.404 and 0.400, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant （P<0.05）. There was no correlation with P1, N1, N2, and P300 latencies of CAEP （P>0.05）. ②The MCL value, BNL value and M-ANL value had no significant difference with the CAEP wave amplitudes of P1-N1, P2-N2, and P300 （P>0.05）. Conclusion:There was a certain correlation between M-ANL and CAEP in young adults with normal hearing, suggesting that the central auditory cortex might play a potential regulatory role in the background noise tolerance. Individuals with a greater background noise acceptance might have stronger central efferent mechanisms and/or less active central afferent mechanisms.