Aims: In children with articulatory defects it is important to evaluate the central auditory level. We compared the results of the interwave intervals of brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) at 80 dB SPL (sound pressure level) and the latencies of the waves of long latency auditory evoked potentials (LLAEP) (vertex) in 5-year-old children with articulatory defects for /l/, /r/, /rr/ and /s/, and in controls.
Subjects and methods: Fifty cases of 5-year-old children of both sexes were evaluated; 25 had articulatory defects and 25 with no articulatory defects were used as controls. Melgar's articulation test was applied to both groups. The following aspects were considered in the two groups: normal bilateral audition by means of tone audiometry, tympanometry and the revised Wechsler Intelligence Scale for preschool and primary school children, which were normal; there was no history of neurological damage. Interwave intervals for waves I-III, I-V and III-V of the BAEP and the latencies of the LLAEP (vertex) were evaluated.
Results: Data were analysed using SPSS 12, and descriptive statistics and Student's t test were carried out to appraise the differences between the two groups. No differences were found between the control group and the study group.
Conclusions: It is important to determine whether children with articulatory defects have alterations in the auditory receptor or in their central auditory function. It can be concluded that the variables analysed in the two groups behave in the same way; no significant differences were found, which suggests that neither the auditory receptor nor the central auditory function are affected in the study group. Further studies are to be conducted to investigate the meaning of the difference in central nervous conduction between the two afferences in the study group.