The overall goal of this investigation is to improve the diagnosis of hearing loss and central auditory deficits in young children. The use of certain auditory evoked potentials (AEPs), including middle latency (MLR) and late potentials, has been limited in pediatric populations because of the variability of these responses during sleep or the dependence of the responses on a behavioral task which may be beyond the capabilities of a young child. This project is an investigation of the MLR and mismatch negativity (MMN) AEPs in children and addresses how these limitations may be overcome. The first major aim is to develop a means to identify the periods during sleep that are favorable for recording the MLR. Previous research has indicated that certain sleep stages are more favorable than others and that they may be distinguished by analyzing the EEG for specific amplitude and frequency characteristics. Proposed is an investigation of the utility of the """"""""delta ratio"""""""", a measure of the dominance of delta activity in the EEG. On-line detection of delta presence/absence could signal a clinician or researcher when a child is in a favorable MLR recording period. Similar measures could eventually be applied to other AEPs. A second major aim is to characterize the MMN in response to well-defined speech stimuli to determine if this response can provide an objective neurophysiologic measure of auditory discrimination in school-aged children. The MMN reflects central auditory processing of small acoustic differences and does not depend on active participation from the child. The MMN will be elicited by synthesized speech stimuli that differ in acoustic parameters that are fundamental to speech perception. Another objective is to determine whether developmental changes in the MLR and the MMN correlate with behavioral measures of development as determined by standardized measures of mental aptitude and processes underlying learning and academic achievement. Clinical applicability of the combined electrophysiologic/behavioral approach will be evaluated in (1) children with behaviorally identified central auditory deficits and (2) children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -- a group in which the co-existence of auditory processing deficits is well established.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC001510-02
Application #
2126543
Study Section
Hearing Research Study Section (HAR)
Project Start
1993-07-01
Project End
1996-06-30
Budget Start
1994-07-01
Budget End
1995-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Evanston
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60201
Lam, Silvia Siu-Yin; White-Schwoch, Travis; Zecker, Steven G et al. (2017) Neural stability: A reflection of automaticity in reading. Neuropsychologia 103:162-167
Abrams, Daniel A; Nicol, Trent; White-Schwoch, Travis et al. (2017) Population responses in primary auditory cortex simultaneously represent the temporal envelope and periodicity features in natural speech. Hear Res 348:31-43
White-Schwoch, Travis; Woodruff Carr, Kali; Thompson, Elaine C et al. (2015) Auditory Processing in Noise: A Preschool Biomarker for Literacy. PLoS Biol 13:e1002196
Anderson, Samira; Parbery-Clark, Alexandra; White-Schwoch, Travis et al. (2015) Development of subcortical speech representation in human infants. J Acoust Soc Am 137:3346-55
Skoe, Erika; Kraus, Nina (2013) Musical training heightens auditory brainstem function during sensitive periods in development. Front Psychol 4:622
Hornickel, Jane; Kraus, Nina (2013) Unstable representation of sound: a biological marker of dyslexia. J Neurosci 33:3500-4
Hornickel, Jane; Lin, Deborah; Kraus, Nina (2013) Speech-evoked auditory brainstem responses reflect familial and cognitive influences. Dev Sci 16:101-10
Tierney, Adam T; Kraus, Nina (2013) The ability to tap to a beat relates to cognitive, linguistic, and perceptual skills. Brain Lang 124:225-31
Hornickel, Jane; Anderson, Samira; Skoe, Erika et al. (2012) Subcortical representation of speech fine structure relates to reading ability. Neuroreport 23:6-9
Song, Judy H; Skoe, Erika; Banai, Karen et al. (2012) Training to improve hearing speech in noise: biological mechanisms. Cereb Cortex 22:1180-90

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