OBJECTIVE To explore the latency characteristics of speech evoked auditory brainstem response(speech-ABR)from healthy Chinese adults by different stimulation intensities and its significance in neural encoding of speech in the brainstem. METHODS ABRs to speech syllables of 32 subjects were recorded in four stimulus intensities varied from 20 to 80 dB SPL by 20 dB steps, under 11.1/s stimulus rate. A set of featured waves were determined under these intensities, and then the characteristics of their latencies were analyzed. RESULTS A series of featured waves were observed starting from onset response(including V and A waves), transitional C wave, then following frequency-following responses(FFRs), and the offset O wave. As the reduction of stimulus intensity, the latencies of speech-ABR delayed significantly(P