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Updated: Jun 19, 2025
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A Neuroscientific Approach to the Examination of Concussions in Student-Athletes
Published on: December 8, 2014
12.8K
Persistent post-concussion symptoms include neural auditory processing in young children
Silvia Bonacina1,2, Jennifer Krizman1,2, Jacob Farley3
1Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Concussion (London, England)
|July 26, 2024
Summary
Concussions impair auditory processing, specifically affecting pitch and phonetic cues crucial for speech comprehension. Children with concussion showed poorer encoding of fundamental frequency (F0) and first formant (F1).
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Audiology
- Speech-Language Pathology
Background:
- Difficulty understanding speech after concussion is linked to auditory processing deficits.
- Concussion may disrupt the brain's ability to process essential sound cues like pitch and phonetics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how concussion impacts the encoding of pitch (fundamental frequency, F0) and phonetic (first formant, F1) information.
- To determine if auditory processing impairments contribute to speech understanding difficulties post-concussion.
Main Methods:
- Collected frequency following responses (FFRs) to speech syllables from 120 children with concussion and 120 controls.
- Analyzed the neural encoding of F0 and F1 in both groups.
Main Results:
- Children with concussion exhibited poorer encoding of F0 and F1 compared to controls.
- Reduced F0 encoding was more pronounced in concussed children assessed within two weeks of injury.
Conclusions:
- Concussion negatively affects auditory processing, specifically the neural encoding of pitch and phonetic cues.
- Findings support the need for longitudinal studies to track auditory system recovery after concussion.
