An improved masker-probe method for stimulus artifact reduction in electrically evoked compound action potentials

The masker-probe paradigm is a commonly used technique to reduce stimulus artifact in electrically evoked compound action potential registers. This method takes advantage of the refractory properties of the cochlear nerve, combining the responses to different types of stimulation pulses in order to obtain the biological response free of artifact. In this paper we extend the masker-probe paradigm by combining the responses to these stimulation pulses with optimal weights. We also provide an automatic method to obtain an estimation of the optimal weights. A comparison with the conventional masker-probe paradigm shows that the proposed method improves the quality of electrically evoked compound action potential registers.