Introduction: The possibility of correlation between aspects of auditory behavior (auditory abilities) and observable physiological phenomena (cognitive potential - P300) has increased the interest in the study of auditory dysfunctions among professionals of various fields. However, the methods of its analysis and interpretation have not been standardized yet. Therefore, they must be explored and debated aiming more security for clinical and scientific application. Aim: In this study it was investigated the stability in the analysis and interpretation of P300 auditory, according to a pre-determined set of rules. Study design: Clinical prospective. Material and method: Records of P300 of healthy children and adolescents were analyzed twice, identifying the waves (N1, P2, N2, P3) and their latencies according to the pre-determined set of rule. The P300 latency measurements were submitted to quantitative and qualitative analysis. The qualitative analysis looked into types of errors made by the examiner during the P300 identification (5.9% in a total of 560 measurements). In the quantitative analysis we investigated the variability of the P300 latency measurements attributable to the examiner. Results: The results showed that there were no significant differences between the inter- and intra-examiner analyses. Significant correlations were found between the measurements, showing a good test-retest reliability and high concordance among the examiners in the way they analyzed the wave records. Conclusion: We conclude that the rules used in this study are useful to the identification of the P300 in both clinical and scientific situations.
P300 auditory; cognitive potential; event-related potential; electrophysiological measures; P300 measurement
