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Auditory abnormalities in autism: toward functional distinctions among findings.

Recently, findings on a wide range of auditory abnormalities among individuals with autism have been reported. To date, functional distinctions among these varied findings are poorly established. Such distinctions should be of interest to clinicians and researchers alike given their potential therapeutic and experimental applications. This review suggests three general trends among these findings as a starting point for future analyses. First, studies of auditory perception of linguistic and social auditory stimuli among individuals with autism generally have found impaired perception versus normal controls. Such findings may correlate with impaired language and communication skills and social isolation observed among individuals with autism. Second, studies of auditory perception of pitch and music among individuals with autism generally have found enhanced perception versus normal controls. These findings may correlate with the restrictive and highly focused behaviors observed among individuals with autism. Third, findings on the auditory perception of non-linguistic, non-musical stimuli among autism patients resist any generalized conclusions. Ultimately, as some researchers have already suggested, the distinction between impaired global processing and enhanced local processing may prove useful in making sense of apparently discordant findings on auditory abnormalities among individuals with autism.

Auditory Perceptual Disorders↗

Effects of intrauterine growth retardation and its subtypes on the development of the preterm infant.

The aim of this prospective study was to examine the neurological development of preterm children with asymmetric (A-SGA) or symmetric (S-SGA) intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Twenty-six A-SGA preterm children, 27 S-SGA preterm children and 131 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) preterm children were compared with 121 full-term AGA children. They were assessed by one author at the corrected age of 18 months +/- 2 weeks using the modified Denver Developmental Screening Test. Development was evaluated in terms of scores for fine motor and gross motor performance, for visuo-auditory perception, for speech and for social abilities. In the A-SGA group there were more children with low visuo-auditory perception scores and social abilities scores than in the control group. The S-SGA group differed from the other groups in all developmental sectors except visuo-auditory perception. Numbers of neurologically abnormal or suspect children in both SGA groups were twice the number in the control group. IUGR and sex were the only factors that correlated with slow neurological development. These results show that there will be a significant possibility of slow neurological development if a preterm baby has been subject to IUGR, especially symmetric IUGR.

Female↗

Deficient auditory processing in children with Asperger Syndrome, as indexed by event-related potentials.

Asperger Syndrome (AS) is characterized by normal language development but deficient understanding and use of the intonation and prosody of speech. While individuals with AS report difficulties in auditory perception, there are no studies addressing auditory processing at the sensory level. In this study, event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded for syllables and tones in children with AS and in their control counterparts. Children with AS displayed abnormalities in transient sound-feature encoding, as indexed by the obligatory ERPs, and in sound discrimination, as indexed by the mismatch negativity. These deficits were more severe for the tone stimuli than for the syllables. These results indicate that auditory sensory processing is deficient in children with AS, and that these deficits might be implicated in the perceptual problems encountered by children with AS.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Auditory temporal perception of children with left or right brain lesions.

Twenty left and 12 right brain lesioned children were administered Tallal's Repetition Task in which they were required to discriminate, associate and sequence two nonverbal auditory stimuli. Unlike adults with left hemisphere injury or children with developmental language disorders previously described by Tallal, neither left nor right brain-lesioned children differ significantly from control subjects matched by age, sex, race and social class. These results contrast with earlier reports of impaired spoken syntax and delayed lexical retrieval among many of these same left lesioned children, suggesting that prelinguistic auditory processing and higher language deficits may be dissociable among young left hemisphere impaired children. The findings demonstrate that the higher level language deficits seen in the left brain lesioned children cannot be attributed to difficulty in more preliminary analyses of the acoustic stimuli.

Auditory Pathways↗

Seeing and hearing others and oneself talk.

We studied the modification of auditory perception in three different conditions in twenty subjects. Observing other person's discordant articulatory gestures deteriorated identification of acoustic speech stimuli and modified the auditory percept, causing a strong McGurk effect. A similar effect was found when the subjects watched their own silent articulation in a mirror and acoustic stimuli were simultaneously presented to their ears. Interestingly, a smaller but significant effect was even obtained when the subjects just silently articulated the syllables without visual feedback. On the other hand, observing other person's or one's own concordant articulation and silently articulating a concordant syllable improved identification of the acoustic stimuli. The modification of auditory percepts caused by visual observation of speech and silently articulating it are both suggested to be due to the alteration of activity in the auditory cortex. Our findings support the idea of a close relationship between speech perception and production.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Multichannel auditory brainstem implantation: the Australian experience.

The multichannel auditory brainstem implant (ABI) provides the potential for hearing restoration in patients with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). Programmes for auditory brainstem implantation have been established in two Australian centres. Eight patients have been implanted under the protocol of an international multi-centre clinical trial. Three patients had ABI insertion at the time of first side tumour removal, four at second side tumour removal and one after previous bilateral surgery where there was some residual tumour. The translabyrinthine approach was used in all cases. Successful positioning of the electrode array was achieved in seven of eight patients, all of whom achieved auditory perception with electrical stimulation. Intra-operative electrically evoked auditory brainstem response testing was successful in four patients and was useful in confirming correct electrode position. In six cases post-operative psychophysical and auditory perception testing demonstrated that useful auditory sensations were achieved. Five of these patients regularly used the implant. In one patient electrode placement was unsuccessful and only non-auditory sensations occurred on stimulation. In the remaining patients non-auditory sensations were minimal and avoidable by selective electrode programming. Auditory brainstem implantation should be considered in patients with NF2. The greatest benefit is seen in patients without debilitating disease who have non-aidable hearing in the contralateral ear.

Adolescent↗

Integration of heard and seen speech: a factor in learning disabilities in children.

Normal-learning children (NL) and children with learning disabilities (LD) reported their perceptions of unisensory (auditory or visual), concordant audiovisual (e.g. visual /apa/ and auditory /apa/) and conflicting (e.g. visual /aka/ and auditory /apa/) speech stimuli in quiet and noise (0 dB and -12 dB signal-to-noise ratio, SNR). In normal populations, watching such conflicting combinations typically changes auditory percepts ('McGurk effect'). NL and LD children identified unisensory auditory and congruent audiovisual stimuli similarly in all conditions. Despite being less accurate identifying unisensory visual stimuli, LD children were more likely than NL children to report hearing only the visual component of incongruent audiovisual stimuli at -12 dB SNR. Furthermore, LD children with brainstem timing deficits demonstrated a distinctive pattern of audiovisual perception. The results suggest that the perception of simultaneous auditory and visual speech differs between NL and LD children, perhaps reflecting variations in neural processing underlying multisensory integration.

Adolescent↗

Organizational processes in infants' perception of auditory patterns.

Infants 9-11 months of age were tested for their discrimination of changes in the melodic contour (direction of successive pitch changes) of brief melodies in the context of discernible variations in key (different absolute frequencies, same intervals) or interval size (different absolute frequencies and frequency ratios, same contour). Infants detected contour changes in both variable contexts, suggesting that they categorize sequences of sounds on the basis of global, relational properties such as melodic contour. Implications of such processing strategies for infants' perception of running speech are considered.

Attention↗

Automatic auditory word perception as measured by 40 Hz EEG responses.

OBJECTIVES: Here we report the existence of automatic speech perception in man, revealed by 40 Hz EEG responses. METHODS: We presented to Finnish subjects the Finnish word /tu:li/(wind) as the standard stimulus and another Finnish word /tuli/(fire) as the deviant stimulus using a passive auditory oddball task. The experiment was also conducted with pseudowords as stimuli. RESULTS: We observed a global significant increase in 40 Hz EEG power at 600 ms after stimulus onset for words, but not for pseudowords. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the memory representation of the standard verbal stimuli, even if unattended, might not merely be based on the physical features of the stimuli: if a semantic representation exists, then the brain processes it pre-attentively.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Multiple stages of auditory speech perception reflected in event-related FMRI.

Speech processing in auditory cortex and beyond is a remarkable yet poorly understood faculty of the listening brain. Here we show that stop consonants, as the most transient constituents of speech, are sufficient to involve speech perception circuits in the human superior temporal cortex. Left anterolateral superior temporal cortex showed a stronger response in blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to intelligible consonantal bursts compared with incomprehensible control sounds matched for spectrotemporal complexity. Simultaneously, the left posterior superior temporal plane (including planum temporale [PT]) exhibited a noncategorical responsivity to complex stimulus acoustics across all trials, showing no preference for intelligible speech sounds. Multistage hierarchical processing of speech sounds is thus revealed with fMRI, providing evidence for a role of the PT in the fundamental stages of the acoustic analysis of complex sounds, including speech.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Categorical perception of speech sounds via the tactile mode.

The usefulness of tactile devices as aids to lipreading has been established. However, maximum usefulness in reducing the ambiguity of lipreading cues and/or use of tactile devices as a substitute for audition may be dependent on phonemic recognition via tactile signals alone. In the present study, a categorical perception paradigm was used to evaluate tactile perception of speech sounds in comparison to auditory perception. The results show that speech signals delivered by tactile stimulation can be categorically perceived on a voice-onset time (VOT) continuum. The boundary for the voiced-voiceless distinction falls at longer VOTs for tactile than for auditory perception. It is concluded that the procedure is useful for determining characteristics of tactile perception and for prosthesis evaluation.

Adult↗

Auditory psychophysics and perception.

In this review of auditory psychophysics and perception, we cite some important books, research monographs, and research summaries from the past decade. Within auditory psychophysics, we have singled out some topics of current importance: Cross-Spectral Processing, Timbre and Pitch, and Methodological Developments. Complex sounds and complex listening tasks have been the subject of new studies in auditory perception. We review especially work that concerns auditory pattern perception, with emphasis on temporal aspects of the patterns and on patterns that do not depend on the cognitive structures often involved in the perception of speech and music. Finally, we comment on some aspects of individual difference that are sufficiently important to question the goal of characterizing auditory properties of the typical, average, adult listener. Among the important factors that give rise to these individual differences are those involved in selective processing and attention.

Adult↗

[Partial acoustic agnosia as a cause of stammering. Possibilities and limits of diagnostic testing methods].

An essential precondition for normal speech development is an intact peripheral and central hearing capacity. Disturbances of auditory perception can be the cause of speech defects. There are many methods to examine sound discriminating capacity. Most of them are statistically not verified or standardized. We developed a testing method which consists of 44 figured word pairs. We suggest how to differentiate between children with impaired auditory perception from children without this disturbance. Visual perception and visuomotor function were examined by the Marianne Frostig Developmental Test of VIsual Perception and the Bender-Gestalt-Test (Göttinger Form-reproduktions-Test). We found disturbances all the more the auditory perception was impaired. We investigated handedness and cerebral dominance by the Hand-Dominanz-Test (Steingrüber, Lienert). Righthandedness was most clearly pronounced in the control group (normal speaking children), less so in stammerers without weakness in sound discrimination and weakest in stammerers with this latter defect.

Agnosia↗

Auditory distance perception in rooms.

The perceived distance of a sound source in a room has been shown to depend on the ratio of the energies of direct and reflected sound. Although this relationship was verified in later studies, the research has never led to a quantitative model. The advent of techniques for the generation of virtual sound sources has made it possible to study distance perception using controlled, deterministic stimuli. Here we present two experiments that make use of such stimuli and we show that a simple model, based on a modified direct-to-reverberant energy ratio, can accurately predict the results and also provide an explanation for the 'auditory horizon' in distance perception. The modification of the ratio consists of the use of an integration time of 6 milliseconds in the calculation of the energy of the direct sound. This time constant seems to be important in spatial hearing-the precedence effect is also based on a similar integration window.

Auditory Perception↗

Auditory/vibratory perception of syllabic structure in words by profoundly hearing-impaired children.

Sixty monosyllabic, disyllabic, and trisyllabic words were recorded and presented at different times through earphones and vibrators to 20 normal-hearing adults and to 20 profoundly hearing-impaired children to evaluate their perception of number of syllables. Vibratory perception by the profoundly hearing-impaired and normal-hearing subjects and auditory perception by the profoundly hearing-impaired subjects all were similar. Their responses could be predicted by counting the number of prominent energy bursts displayed on the screen of a storage oscilloscope. The subjects' responses obtained under these conditions differed considerably from normal auditory perception, which could be predicted by "dictionary criteria" for syllabification. These findings suggest the need for a special perceptual viewpoint in teaching stress or prosody to profoundly hearing-impaired children.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Cochlear implantation in prelingually deaf persons with additional disability.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to identify the frequency with which the following conditions were present as a second disability in cochlear-implanted, prelingually deaf persons: mild and moderate mental retardation; learning disability; attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder; cerebral palsy; congenital blindness; and autism. We also aimed to document the development of auditory perception in patients having one of these additional disabilities. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study was designed to pursue the above aims. METHODS: We examined the records of 398 cochlear-implanted, prelingually deaf patients who had received a cochlear implant at least one year previously. Patients were selected who showed a delay in motor, cognitive or emotional development. The selected cases were referred for psychological evaluation in order to identify patients with additional disabilities. We then compared these patients' auditory perception prior to and one year following cochlear implantation. RESULTS: A total of 60 (15 per cent) cochlear-implanted, prelingually deaf patients were diagnosed with additional disabilities. These were classified as: mild mental retardation in eight cases (13.33 per cent); moderate mental retardation in five (8.33 per cent); learning disability in 20 (33.33 per cent); attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in 15 (25 per cent); cerebral palsy in five (8.33); congenital blindness in three (5 per cent); and autism in four (6.66 per cent). All patients showed significant development in speech perception, except for autistic and congenitally deaf-blind patients. CONCLUSION: Although cochlear implantation is not contraindicated in prelingually deaf persons with additional disabilities, congenitally deaf-blind and autistic patients showed limited development in auditory perception as a main outcome of cochlear implantation. These patients require unique rehabilitation in order to achieve more auditory development.

Adolescent↗

Auditory and auditory-visual perception of clear and conversational speech.

Research has shown that speaking in a deliberately clear manner can improve the accuracy of auditory speech recognition. Allowing listeners access to visual speech cues also enhances speech understanding. Whether the nature of information provided by speaking clearly and by using visual speech cues is redundant has not been determined. This study examined how speaking mode (clear vs. conversational) and presentation mode (auditory vs. auditory-visual) influenced the perception of words within nonsense sentences. In Experiment 1, 30 young listeners with normal hearing responded to videotaped stimuli presented audiovisually in the presence of background noise at one of three signal-to-noise ratios. In Experiment 2, 9 participants returned for an additional assessment using auditory-only presentation. Results of these experiments showed significant effects of speaking mode (clear speech was easier to understand than was conversational speech) and presentation mode (auditory-visual presentation led to better performance than did auditory-only presentation). The benefit of clear speech was greater for words occurring in the middle of sentences than for words at either the beginning or end of sentences for both auditory-only and auditory-visual presentation, whereas the greatest benefit from supplying visual cues was for words at the end of sentences spoken both clearly and conversationally. The total benefit from speaking clearly and supplying visual cues was equal to the sum of each of these effects. Overall, the results suggest that speaking clearly and providing visual speech information provide complementary (rather than redundant) information.

Adult↗

Auditory hallucinations and the temporal cortical response to speech in schizophrenia: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

OBJECTIVE: The authors explored whether abnormal functional lateralization of temporal cortical language areas in schizophrenia was associated with a predisposition to auditory hallucinations and whether the auditory hallucinatory state would reduce the temporal cortical response to external speech. METHOD: Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent signal induced by auditory perception of speech in three groups of male subjects: eight schizophrenic patients with a history of auditory hallucinations (trait-positive), none of whom was currently hallucinating; seven schizophrenic patients without such a history (trait-negative); and eight healthy volunteers. Seven schizophrenic patients were also examined while they were actually experiencing severe auditory verbal hallucinations and again after their hallucinations had diminished. RESULTS: Voxel-by-voxel comparison of the median power of subjects' responses to periodic external speech revealed that this measure was reduced in the left superior temporal gyrus but increased in the right middle temporal gyrus in the combined schizophrenic groups relative to the healthy comparison group. Comparison of the trait-positive and trait-negative patients revealed no clear difference in the power of temporal cortical activation. Comparison of patients when experiencing severe hallucinations and when hallucinations were mild revealed reduced responsivity of the temporal cortex, especially the right middle temporal gyrus, to external speech during the former state. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that schizophrenia is associated with a reduced left and increased right temporal cortical response to auditory perception of speech, with little distinction between patients who differ in their vulnerability to hallucinations. The auditory hallucinatory state is associated with reduced activity in temporal cortical regions that overlap with those that normally process external speech, possibly because of competition for common neurophysiological resources.

Adult↗