Auditory Brainstem Timing Predicts Cerebral Asymmetry for Speech

The left hemisphere of the human cerebral cortex is dominant for processing rapid acoustic stimuli, including speech, and this specialized activity is preceded by processing in the auditory brainstem. It is not known to what extent the integrity of brainstem encoding of speech impacts patterns of asymmetry at cortex. Here, we demonstrate that the precision of temporal encoding of speech in auditory brainstem predicts cerebral asymmetry for speech sounds measured in a group of children spanning a range of language skills. Results provide strong evidence that timing deficits measured at the auditory brainstem negatively impact rapid acoustic processing by specialized structures of cortex, and demonstrate a delicate relationship between cortical activation patterns and the temporal integrity of cortical input.

[1]  D. Lehmann,et al.  Reference-free identification of components of checkerboard-evoked multichannel potential fields. , 1980, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[2]  M F Dorman,et al.  Relationship between N1 evoked potential morphology and the perception of voicing. , 2000, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[3]  J. Kaas,et al.  Subdivisions of auditory cortex and processing streams in primates. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[4]  J. Wolpaw,et al.  Hemispheric differences in the auditory evoked response. , 1977, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[5]  Gary J. Robertson,et al.  Wide Range Achievement Test 3 ( wrat3 ) , 2001 .

[6]  Nina Kraus,et al.  Brainstem origins for cortical ‘what’ and ‘where’ pathways in the auditory system , 2005, Trends in Neurosciences.

[7]  Nina Kraus,et al.  Auditory training improves neural timing in the human brainstem , 2005, Behavioural Brain Research.

[8]  J. Wolpaw,et al.  A temporal component of the auditory evoked response. , 1975, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[9]  Y. Samson,et al.  Lateralization of Speech and Auditory Temporal Processing , 1998, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[10]  N. Kraus,et al.  Brainstem Timing: Implications for Cortical Processing and Literacy , 2005, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[11]  Nina Kraus,et al.  Brain Stem Response to Speech: A Biological Marker of Auditory Processing , 2005, Ear and hearing.

[12]  N. Kraus,et al.  Neurobiologic responses to speech in noise in children with learning problems: deficits and strategies for improvement , 2001, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[13]  Charles A. Ford.  A Case of Congenital Word-Blindness , 1928, The Psychological clinic.

[14]  R. Zatorre,et al.  Spectral and temporal processing in human auditory cortex. , 2001, Cerebral cortex.

[15]  J. Eggermont,et al.  Maturation of human central auditory system activity: the T-complex , 2003, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[16]  Krista L. Johnson,et al.  Learning impaired children exhibit timing deficits and training-related improvements in auditory cortical responses to speech in noise , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[17]  T. Carrell,et al.  Auditory Neurophysiologic Responses and Discrimination Deficits in Children with Learning Problems , 1996, Science.

[18]  H. Jasper,et al.  The ten-twenty electrode system of the International Federation. The International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. , 1999, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology. Supplement.

[19]  Kenzo Takeshita,et al.  Functional and morphometrical maturation of the brainstem auditory pathway , 1987, Brain and Development.

[20]  N. Suga,et al.  Modulation of cochlear hair cells by the auditory cortex in the mustached bat , 2002, Nature Neuroscience.

[21]  Nina Kraus,et al.  Brainstem responses to speech syllables , 2004, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[22]  S. Hochstein,et al.  The reverse hierarchy theory of visual perceptual learning , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[23]  N. Suga,et al.  Plasticity of bat's central auditory system evoked by focal electric stimulation of auditory and/or somatosensory cortices. , 2001, Journal of neurophysiology.

[24]  Nina Kraus,et al.  Correlation between brainstem and cortical auditory processes in normal and language-impaired children. , 2004, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[25]  P. Cariani,et al.  Encoding of pitch in the human brainstem is sensitive to language experience. , 2005, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[26]  R. Ilmoniemi,et al.  Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses , 1997, Nature.

[27]  François Mauguière,et al.  Evidence for corticofugal modulation of peripheral auditory activity in humans. , 2006, Cerebral cortex.

[28]  E. Young,et al.  THE COCHLEAR NUCLEUS , 2003 .

[29]  Nina Kraus,et al.  Atypical brainstem representation of onset and formant structure of speech sounds in children with language-based learning problems , 2004, Biological Psychology.

[30]  J. Eggermont,et al.  Maturation of human central auditory system activity: evidence from multi-channel evoked potentials , 2000, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[31]  P. Chauvel,et al.  Specialization of left auditory cortex for speech perception in man depends on temporal coding. , 1999, Cerebral cortex.

[32]  T Wüstenberg,et al.  Evidence for rapid auditory perception as the foundation of speech processing: a sparse temporal sampling fMRI study , 2004, The European journal of neuroscience.

[33]  Morgan Wp,et al.  A Case of Congenital Word Blindness , 1896 .

[34]  Nina Kraus,et al.  Deficits in auditory brainstem pathway encoding of speech sounds in children with learning problems , 2002, Neuroscience Letters.

[35]  P. Tallal,et al.  Neurobiological Basis of Speech: A Case for the Preeminence of Temporal Processing , 1993, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[36]  T D Carrell,et al.  Interactive software for evaluating auditory discrimination. , 1999, Ear and hearing.

[37]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Left‐hemisphere specialization for the processing of acoustic transients , 1997, Neuroreport.

[38]  Nina Kraus,et al.  Aging Affects Hemispheric Asymmetry in the Neural Representation of Speech Sounds , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[39]  Joseph S Gati,et al.  Overlapping neural regions for processing rapid temporal cues in speech and nonspeech signals☆ , 2003, NeuroImage.

[40]  P. Tallal,et al.  Rate of acoustic change may underlie hemispheric specialization for speech perception , 1980, Science.

[41]  Nina Kraus,et al.  Thalamic asymmetry is related to acoustic signal complexity , 1999, Neuroscience Letters.

[42]  J. Knott.  The organization of behavior: A neuropsychological theory , 1951 .