Continued development of auditory ability in autism spectrum disorder children: A clinical study on click-evoked auditory brainstem response

Abstract

Objectives: The study aimed to analyze the developmental mode of auditory at the level of brainstem in preschool autistic children using click-evoked auditory brainstem response (click-ABR).

Methods: Twenty children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 20 age matched typical development children (TD) were recruited. The detail data recorded from click-ABR were collected at two time periods (T1 and T2).

Results: There was no significant change in TD group at two time periods. In ASD group, wave V latency was significantly shortened at T2 compared to that recorded at T1. The interpeak latency of I-V was short at T2 versus at T1 in the autistic children. Compared to the TD group, ASD was associated with longer latencies for waves V and longer interpeak latencies of I-III, I-V at T1. In addition, ASD group also indicated longer latencies of wave III and wave V, longer interpeak latencies of I-III and I-V at T2 compared to the TD group.

Conclusions: ASD group had immature and dysfunction developmental mode in auditory stimuli perception at the level of brainstem. The performance of auditory ability in children with ASD improved gradually with ages. However, there are still differences compared with TD children.

Keywords: Auditory; Autism spectrum disorder; Brainstem; Evoked potentials; Preschool children.