The effect of stimulation rate on the signal-to-noise ratio of evoked responses

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in averaged evoked responses is proportional to the signal amplitude and to the square root of the stimulation frequency. If the SNR-stimulation-rate dependence is known for some specified component or feature of the response it is possible to select a rate that maximizes the SNR of that component within a given measurement time. The same stimulation rate also minimizes the acquisition time for a given SNR.