Acoustic Change Complex in Children: 7-15 Years of Age

Abstract

The objective was to see the age related changes in the Acoustic Change Complex (ACC). A total of 45 participants in the age range of 7 to 15 years were taken. These participants were divided into three groups according to the age: 7 to 9; 11 years, 10 to 12; 11 years, and 13 to 15; 11 years. Fifteen participants were taken in each sub-group. Naturally spoken speech stimuli /sa/ and /si/ were recorded using Adobe Audition software (version 2) and were used to record the ACC by using Evoked Potential System (Bio-logic Navigator Pro).Different positive-negative components for ACC responses were marked as P1, N1, P2, N2 and P3. Latencies for these components were measured in ms while the peak to peak amplitude of N1P2 and N2P3 complexes were measured in µV. The latencies and amplitudes were calculated across the ages by different statistical analysis by using SPSS version (10,17) software. The results revealed that there were effects of age on the latencies and amplitudes of different ACC component, evidencing maturational changes in ACC.