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The evaluation of auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) is accepted as a robust method for the objective detection and quantification of hearing loss in non– cooperative patients. In currently available ABR analysis technologies, a large number of sweeps (individual responses) has to be averaged in order to obtain a meaningful signal morphology due to a poor signal–to–noise ratio. The computa-tion of such large–scale averages makes the evaluation of ABRs time consuming, limiting the applicability of this method crucially. This thesis proposes a completely new detection paradigm for ABRs by means of a fast ABR single sweep processing. This paradigm is called the novelty detection paradigm. Here the ABR evaluation system is adjusted to the spontaneous elec-troencephalographic activity and correlates of a stimulus locked synchronization at the brainstem level, as indicator of a physiological hearing, are detected as novel instances. The features used in this paradigm are based on the inter–sweep in-stantaneous phase synchronization as well as energy and entropy relations in the time–frequency domain. Included in the evaluation of this new approach was th