Abnormal neural encoding of repeated speech stimuli in noise in children with learning problems

OBJECTIVES This study investigated whether neurophysiologic responses to repeated speech stimuli, presented in quiet and noise, differed between normal children (NL) and children with learning problems (LP). METHODS Subjects were normal-hearing, school-age children. NL subjects scored significantly better than LP subjects on measures of reading, spelling and speech sound discrimination. Stimuli (40 ms /da/) were presented to the right ear at 80 dB SPL. Stimuli were presented in trains of four, separated within trains by 360 ms. The interval between trains was 1060 ms. Stimuli were presented in quiet and in white noise (S/N+15). Cortical responses were recorded from an electrode placed along the midline at Cz. RESULTS Correlations between the first and 4th responses were lower in noise than in quiet for LP subjects only. Response correlations in quiet were no different between groups. There were no root-mean-square (RMS) amplitude differences between groups. CONCLUSIONS Response correlation in noise suggested that the LP population consisted of two subgroups, one whose responses appeared relatively normal, and another whose responses were severely degraded by repetition in noise. Response correlations in noise were related to behavioral measures of auditory processing and spelling. These findings suggest that abnormal, asynchronous, auditory cortical encoding may underlie some language-based learning problems.

[1]  Linda J. Lombardino,et al.  Deficits in auditory temporal and spectral resolution in language-impaired children , 1997, Nature.

[2]  M. Livingstone,et al.  Physiological and anatomical evidence for a magnocellular defect in developmental dyslexia. , 1991, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[3]  C. McBride-Chang,et al.  Models of speech perception and phonological processing in reading. , 1996, Child development.

[4]  M. Tervaniemi,et al.  Basic auditory dysfunction in dyslexia as demonstrated by brain activity measurements. , 2000, Psychophysiology.

[5]  Donald J. Henderson,et al.  Central Auditory Processing: A Transdisciplinary View , 1992 .

[6]  T W Picton,et al.  The P300 Wave of the Human Event‐Related Potential , 1992, Journal of clinical neurophysiology : official publication of the American Electroencephalographic Society.

[7]  T G Nicol,et al.  Speech-sound discrimination in school-age children: psychophysical and neurophysiologic measures. , 1999, Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR.

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

[9]  D. Stapells,et al.  The Effects of Broadband Noise Masking on Cortical Event‐Related Potentials to Speech Sounds /ba/ and /da/ , 1998, Ear and hearing.

[10]  R. Poldrack,et al.  Disruption of the neural response to rapid acoustic stimuli in dyslexia: evidence from functional MRI. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[11]  S E Shaywitz,et al.  Evidence that dyslexia may represent the lower tail of a normal distribution of reading ability. , 1992, The New England journal of medicine.

[12]  P Tallal,et al.  Developmental aphasia: rate of auditory processing and selective impairment of consonant perception. , 1974, Neuropsychologia.

[13]  J. J. Welsh,et al.  Learning Disabilities and Central Auditory Dysfunction , 1996, The Annals of otology, rhinology, and laryngology.

[14]  R. Näätänen,et al.  Auditory frequency discrimination and event-related potentials. , 1985, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[15]  J. Jerger,et al.  Specific Auditory Perceptual Dysfunction in a Learning Disabled Child , 1987, Ear and hearing.

[16]  J. Rauschecker.  Processing of complex sounds in the auditory cortex of cat, monkey, and man. , 1997, Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum.

[17]  J. Jerger,et al.  Auditory temporal processing and lexical/nonlexical reading in developmental dyslexics. , 2000, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[18]  I. Nelken,et al.  Population responses to multifrequency sounds in the cat auditory cortex: One- and two-parameter families of sounds , 1994, Hearing Research.

[19]  D. P. Phillips.  Neural Representation of Stimulus Times in the Primary Auditory Cortex a , 1993, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[20]  Riitta Hari,et al.  Deficit of temporal auditory processing in dyslexic adults , 1996, Neuroscience Letters.

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

[22]  T. Carrell,et al.  Mismatch negativity in school-age children to speech stimuli that are just perceptibly different. , 1993, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[23]  J J Eggermont,et al.  Neural interaction in cat primary auditory cortex II. Effects of sound stimulation. , 1994, Journal of neurophysiology.

[24]  C. Rennie,et al.  Decrement of the N1 auditory event-related potential with stimulus repetition: habituation vs. refractoriness. , 1998, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[25]  S. Breedin,et al.  Distinguishing auditory and speech-specific perceptual deficits. , 1989, Ear and hearing.

[26]  Gail D. Chermak,et al.  Central Auditory Processing Disorders: New Perspectives , 1997 .

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

[28]  D. Irvine,et al.  First-spike timing of auditory-nerve fibers and comparison with auditory cortex. , 1997, Journal of neurophysiology.

[29]  Teri James Bellis,et al.  Assessment and Management of Central Auditory Processing Disorders in the Educational Setting: From Science to Practice , 1996 .

[30]  E D Young,et al.  Auditory nerve representation of vowels in background noise. , 1983, Journal of neurophysiology.

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

[32]  M. Reed.  Speech perception and the discrimination of brief auditory cues in reading disabled children. , 1989, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[33]  R. Klein,et al.  The evidence for a temporal processing deficit linked to dyslexia: A review , 1995, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[34]  Dennis H. Klatt,et al.  Software for a cascade/parallel formant synthesizer , 1980 .

[35]  D. Francis,et al.  The Validity of Discrepancy-Based Definitions of Reading Disabilities , 1992, Journal of learning disabilities.

[36]  M. Merzenich,et al.  Cortical auditory signal processing in poor readers. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[37]  Joseph K. Torgesen,et al.  CHAPTER 1 – Learning Disabilities: Historical and Conceptual Issues , 1991 .

[38]  T. Nicol,et al.  Speech-Evoked Neurophysiologic Responses in Children with Learning Problems: Development and Behavioral Correlates of Perception , 2000, Ear and hearing.

[39]  B. Shaywitz,et al.  Discrepancy Compared to Low Achievement Definitions of Reading Disability , 1992, Journal of learning disabilities.

[40]  D. Woods,et al.  The habituation of event-related potentials to speech sounds and tones. , 1986, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[41]  D. Kurtzberg,et al.  The effects of decreased audibility produced by high-pass noise masking on N1 and the mismatch negativity to speech sounds /ba/and/da. , 1999, Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR.

[42]  J. Godfrey,et al.  Performance of dyslexic children on speech perception tests. , 1981, Journal of experimental child psychology.

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

[44]  T. Picton,et al.  The N1 wave of the human electric and magnetic response to sound: a review and an analysis of the component structure. , 1987, Psychophysiology.