Cortical auditory dysfunction in children with oral clefts: relation with cleft type

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Speech and Hearing Sciences

Background:

• Oral clefts affect a significant percentage of children, often leading to language-learning disabilities.
• The precise relationship between cleft type and the underlying cognitive or neurological mechanisms remains unclear.
• Auditory short-term memory (STM) is crucial for language perception and processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate auditory short-term memory (STM) persistence in children with non-syndromic oral clefts.
• To determine if STM function differs based on fine-graded cleft classification.
• To explore the link between cleft type and potential cognitive malfunctioning.

Main Methods:

• Recorded cortical evoked potentials, specifically mismatch negativity (MMN), in 78 children with oral clefts and 32 healthy controls.
• MMN was used to assess preattentive auditory change detection and the durability of STM traces.
• Stimulation rates were varied to test the temporal aspects of auditory memory.

Main Results:

• Reduced MMN amplitudes were observed in children with clefts compared to controls, indicating impaired auditory STM.
• Children with isolated cleft lip did not show significant differences from controls.
• A more posterior cleft location correlated with smaller MMN amplitudes, with the most significant reduction in complete unilateral cleft of lip and palate cases.

Conclusions:

• Deficiencies in auditory STM trace maintenance, evidenced by reduced MMN amplitudes, are present in children with oral clefts.
• This auditory processing dysfunction likely contributes to the observed language and learning disabilities.
• The association between cleft type and cognitive deficits may be explained by differences in auditory cortex function.