Relationship between Speech Identification Scores and Auditory Evoked Potentials in Children with Learning Disability

Abstract

The main aim of the study was to correlate the SIS scores with the AEPs recorded from children with and without learning disabilities having normal hearing. A comparison was also made between the AEPs recorded using different stimulus in three different stimulus conditions. In the process two groups of subjects were taken, 10 children with learning problem and 10 children without learning problem. Routine audiometric tests such as pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry and immitance testing was carried out to rule out the presence of hearing loss in children from both the groups. ABR and LLR were recorded for the speech stimulus /da/ in three different conditions (quiet, 0 dB SNR and +3 dB SNR). ABR wave V latency was and N1, P2 latency and the amplitude of the N1-P2 complex of ALLR were noted for the analysis. The results showed that wave V latency was prolonged for both the groups in the presence of ipsilateral noise. Within the two signal to noise ratio conditions no significant difference was noted. Group wise comparison revealed no significance difference for all the conditions although; the clinical group had longer wave V latency in all the conditions. No significant difference was observed in the N1 and P2 latency across the three conditions in both the groups. Comparison between the groups revealed that there was a significant difference in the N1 latency for all the three stimulus conditions, and P2 latency for 0 and +3 dB SNR conditions. The clinical group had prolonged latency of N1 and P2 in all the conditions. The amplitude of the N1-P2 complex in the two groups was different across the three stimulus conditions, but failed to reach a significant level. The presence of noise reduced the SIS scores for both the groups and the effect was more for the clinical group. However, there was no one-to-one correlation could be obtained between the SIS and AEP recordings. In conclusion, AEPs are sensitive to differentiate between children with learning problem from those without learning problem, especially in conditions with background noise. Although, the ABR wave V latency is not a sensitive measure, the latency of N1 and P2 of ALLR may be a sensitive measures to identify a with learning problem.