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Updated: Mar 31, 2026
Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Prolonged auditory brainstem responses in infants with autism
Oren Miron1,2,3, Daphne Ari-Even Roth4,5, Lidia V Gabis6
1Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Insights
Auditory brainstem response (ABR) latencies are prolonged in infants who later develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This early neurophysiological difference may help identify ASD risk in infants, irrespective of hearing ability.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Audiology
Background:
- Early identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is crucial for timely intervention.
- Auditory brainstem response (ABR) measures neurophysiological function in response to sound.
- Previous research suggests prolonged ABR latencies in children with ASD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if prolonged ABR latencies are present in infancy before ASD diagnosis.
- To determine if ABR differences are detectable irrespective of hearing thresholds.
- To assess the potential of ABR as an early biomarker for ASD risk.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of clinical ABR recordings from infants later diagnosed with ASD.
- Comparison of ABR latencies in infants (0-3 months) and toddlers (1.5-3.5 years) with and without ASD.
- Exclusion of participants with elevated ABR thresholds or genetic aberrations.
Main Results:
- Significantly prolonged ABR wave-V latencies were observed in infants who later developed ASD compared to controls.
- Classification accuracy for identifying infants who would develop ASD was 80% specificity and 70% sensitivity.
- Prolonged absolute and interpeak latencies were found in toddlers with ASD compared to clinical norms.
Conclusions:
- Prolonged ABR latencies are detectable in infancy, prior to ASD diagnosis and independent of hearing status.
- ABR may serve as an early neurophysiological marker for identifying infants at risk for ASD.
- Further research is warranted to validate ABR as a reliable biomarker for early ASD detection.
Abstract:
Numerous studies have attempted to identify early physiological abnormalities in infants and toddlers who later develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One potential measure of early neurophysiology is the auditory brainstem response (ABR), which has been reported to exhibit prolonged latencies in children with ASD. We examined whether prolonged ABR latencies appear in infancy, before the onset of ASD symptoms, and irrespective of hearing thresholds. To determine how early in development these differences appear, we retrospectively examined clinical ABR recordings of infants who were later diagnosed with ASD. Of the 118 children in the participant pool, 48 were excluded due to elevated ABR thresholds, genetic aberrations, or old testing age, leaving a sample of 70 children: 30 of which were tested at 0-3 months, and 40 were tested at toddlerhood (1.5-3.5 years). In the infant group, the ABR wave-V was significantly prolonged in those who later developed ASD as compared with case-matched controls (n = 30). Classification of infants who later developed ASD and case-matched controls using this measure enabled accurate identification of ASD infants with 80% specificity and 70% sensitivity. In the group of toddlers with ASD, absolute and interpeak latencies were prolonged compared to clinical norms. Findings indicate that ABR latencies are significantly prolonged in infants who are later diagnosed with ASD irrespective of their hearing thresholds; suggesting that abnormal responses might be detected soon after birth. Further research is needed to determine if ABR might be a valid marker for ASD risk. Autism Res 2016, 9: 689-695. © 2015 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research.
