Audiometric Profiles in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Does Subclinical Hearing Loss Impact Communication?

Abstract

Hearing impairment is more prevalent in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) than the general population, and although ASD is not caused by hearing impairment, symptoms may be made worse by difficulty hearing. Sixty participants with ASD and 16 typically developing peers ages 5-18 underwent a comprehensive screening of communication abilities (expressive and receptive language, speech articulation, phonological processing, and vocal emotion recognition) and audiology (pure tone audiometry, uncomfortable loudness level, tympanometry, acoustic reflexes, distortion product otoacoustic emissions, and auditory brainstem response). The ASD group had a higher rate (55%) of abnormal findings on at least one measure of audiological functioning than typically developing peers (14.9%) or the general population estimate (6%). The presence of sound sensitivity in at least one ear was also considerably higher for the ASD group (37%) compared to the typically developing participants (0%) or general population estimates (8-15%). When participants with ASD were divided into groups with and without evidence of abnormal audiology, there were no significant group differences in communication; however, when the relationship between hearing thresholds and communication was examined, thresholds at middle range frequencies (2000Hz) were in fact significantly related to performance on all measures of speech articulation and language. These results suggest that classifying hearing as normal versus abnormal may not be sufficient to understand its association with ASD symptoms and that treatment studies for mild/subclinical hearing loss may be worthwhile for children with ASD.

Auditory brainstem response in infants and children with autism spectrum disorder: A meta‐analysis of wave V

“…Another finding that may relate to wave V prolongation in ASD is impaired myelination in ASD [Wolff et al, ], which may also relate to prolonged auditory cortical responses in ASD using magneto‐encephalography (MEG) [Gage, Siegel, Callen, & Roberts, ; Gage, et al ; Oram Cardy, Flagg, Roberts, Brian, & Roberts, ; Oram Cardy et al, ; Roberts et al, ; Demopoulos et al, ; Demopoulos & Lewine, ; Edgar et al, ; Roberts et al, ]. Prolonged cortical response in children with ASD was also found in studies using Event‐Related Potential (ERP) of electroencephalogram (EEG), yet results are inconsistent across studies [Bruneau, Roux, Adrien, & Barthélémy, ; Courchesne, Kilman, Galambos, & Lincoln, ].…”

Atypical Bilateral Brain Synchronization in the Early Stage of Human Voice Auditory Processing in Young Children with Autism

“…Reports have indicated that the ASD population exhibits elevated rates of brain stem or peripheral hearing dysfunction [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] and abnormalities in AEF components (i.e., cortical dysfunction) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][21][22][23][24][25]. Intriguingly, research has indicated that individuals with ASD may present with peripheral auditory asymmetry [13], which may distort the cortical bilateral synchronization of AEF components in the central nervous system.…”

“…Altered auditory processing systems in children with ASD have been studied as neurological correlates of some phenotypes in ASD, such as inhibited language acquisition [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] and auditory hypersensitivity [9][10][11], and previous studies that have focused on auditory responses of the brain have also demonstrated altered cerebral laterality [2,5,6] and regional connectivity [12] in children with ASD. These studies have indicated alterations in cortical auditory processes in ASD [1,2,4,5,9,10], whereas increased rates of brain stem or peripheral hearing dysfunction have also been reported in the ASD population [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…Reports have indicated that in addition to alterations in cortical auditory processes, the ASD population exhibits increased rates of brain stem or peripheral hearing dysfunction [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Dysfunctions in both peripheral and central auditory processing also distort the cortical bilateral synchronization of AEF components.…”

Click‐evoked auditory brainstem responses and autism spectrum disorder: A meta‐analytic review

“…Finally, we obtained copies of these papers and evaluated whether standardized mean differences could be generated for at least one ABR latency component. We did not consider papers reporting only: 1) odds of ABR abnormality (N=2) (Cohen, Gardner et al 2013, Demopoulos and Lewine 2015), because definitions for abnormality were non-comparable across studies, or 2) ABRs acquired via binaural stimulation, which are non-comparable to ABRs acquired monaurally (N=1) (Rosenblum, Arick et al 1980). In total, we included 15 papers in this meta-analysis, all of which had a stated objective of assessing differences in ABR components between ASD and TD groups (Figure 1) (Taylor, Rosenblatt et al 1982, Gillberg and Gillberg 1983, Rumsey, Grimes et al 1984, Grillon, Courchesne et al 1989, Sersen, Heaney et al 1990, Wong and Wong 1991, Tharpe, Bess et al 2006, Kwon, Kim et al 2007, Tas, Yagiz et al 2007, Russo, Nicol et al 2009, Fujikawa-Brooks, Isenberg et al 2010, Magliaro, Scheuer et al 2010, Dabbous 2012, Roth, Muchnik et al 2012, Miron, Roth et al 2016).…”