Speech-Evoked Auditory Brainstem Responses (Speech ABR) in Children with Speech Delay, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and Normal Development.

INTRODUCTION

Speech auditory brainstem response (ABR) provides useful information about how the brainstem encodes complex sounds and is a powerful tool to evaluate auditory processing deficiencies not assessed by click stimuli.

OBJECTIVE

Compare speech ABR responses among preschool children with normal hearing thresholds, divided into 3 groups: speech delay, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and control group of typically developing children.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis of 366 children, aged between 10 and 84 months, evaluated between 2015 and 2022. Click and speech ABR, and auditory steady-state responses (ASSR) were obtained in the same test session. We included subjects with normal hearing thresholds and well-defined click ABR waves in both ears. The patients were divided into groups (A) speech delay (n=268), (B) ASD (n=68), and (C) control (n=30). We used the speech ABR stimulus /da/ and evaluated 7 components: Onset (V-A), transition (C), sustained portion (D, E, and F), and Offset (O). Statistical analysis compared age, sex, and wave latencies between the groups.

RESULTS

Three hundred three (82.8%) were boys, with a predominance in all groups. There was no sex difference between the groups (P=.12). Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children were older than children in the other groups (P < .001). We did not find the differences between the groups for V, A, C, D, E, F, and O latencies or pure-tone audiometry (PTA) /ASSR thresholds. Compared to boys, girls had shorter latencies. Comparing boys, no latency differences were observed between groups.

CONCLUSION

There was no difference in speech ABR wave latencies between the groups of children with speech delay, ASD, and controls.