Subcortical encoding of speech cues in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Zahra Jafari1, Saeed Malayeri2, Reza Rostami3
1Department of Basic Sciences in Rehabilitation, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran; Rehabilitation Research Center (RRC), Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran.
Insights
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show delayed auditory brainstem responses (ABR) to both speech and nonspeech stimuli. This indicates subcortical processing deficits in ADHD, affecting auditory pathway function.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Audiology
Background:
- Limited understanding of subcortical processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
- Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) is crucial for assessing auditory brainstem pathway function.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate subcortical neural encoding of click and speech stimuli in children with ADHD.
- Compare auditory processing between children with ADHD and typically developing (TD) peers.
Main Methods:
- Recorded click ABR (cABR) and speech ABR (sABR) in 50 children with ADHD and 34 TD children (ages 8-12).
- Utilized a 40 ms synthetic /da/ syllable stimulus for sABR.
Main Results:
- Significantly longer latencies for cABR waves (III, V) and V-Vn duration in children with ADHD.
- Significantly longer latencies for sABR waves (A, D, E, F, O) and V-A duration in children with ADHD.
- No significant differences observed in sustained frequency following response (FFR) components.
Conclusions:
- Children with ADHD exhibit temporal neural encoding deficits for both nonspeech and speech stimuli.
- Suggests a common brainstem-level processing dysfunction in children with ADHD for auditory stimuli.
Objective:
There is little information about processing of nonspeech and speech stimuli at the subcortical level in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The auditory brainstem response (ABR) provides information about the function of the auditory brainstem pathways. We aim to investigate the subcortical function in neural encoding of click and speech stimuli in children with ADHD.
Methods:
The subjects include 50 children with ADHD and 34 typically developing (TD) children between the ages of 8 and 12 years. Click ABR (cABR) and speech ABR (sABR) with 40 ms synthetic /da/ syllable stimulus were recorded.
Results:
Latencies of cABR in waves of III and V and duration of V-Vn (P⩽0.027), and latencies of sABR in waves A, D, E, F and O and duration of V-A (P⩽0.034) were significantly longer in children with ADHD than in TD children. There were no apparent differences in components the sustained frequency following response (FFR).
Conclusions:
We conclude that children with ADHD have deficits in temporal neural encoding of both nonspeech and speech stimuli.
Significance:
There is a common dysfunction in the processing of click and speech stimuli at the brainstem level in children with suspected ADHD.
