Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of Background Noise on Cortical Encoding of Speech in Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study provides new evidence of deficient auditory cortical processing of speech in noise in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Speech-evoked responses (~100–300 ms) in quiet and background noise were evaluated in typically-developing (TD) children and children with ASD. ASD responses showed delayed timing (both conditions) and reduced amplitudes (quiet) compared to TD responses. As expected, TD responses in noise were delayed and reduced compared to quiet responses. However, minimal quiet-to-noise response differences were found in children with ASD, presumably because quiet responses were already severely degraded. Moreover, ASD quiet responses resembled TD noise responses, implying that children with ASD process speech in quiet only as well as TD children do in background noise.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alcantara, J. I., Weisblatt, E. J., Moore, B. C., & Bolton, P. F. (2004). Speech-in-noise perception in high-functioning individuals with autism or asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 45(6), 1107–1114. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.t01-1-00303.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banai, K., Hornickel, J. M., Skoe, E., Nicol, T., Zecker, S., & Kraus, N. (2009). Reading and subcortical auditory function. Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y.). doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp024.

  • Banai, K., Nicol, T., Zecker, S. G., & Kraus, N. (2005). Brainstem timing: Implications for cortical processing and literacy. The Journal of Neuroscience, 25(43), 9850–9857. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2373-05.2005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, D. V., Hardiman, M., Uwer, R., & von Suchodoletz, W. (2007). Maturation of the long-latency auditory ERP: Step function changes at start and end of adolescence. Developmental Science, 10(5), 565–575. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00619.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boddaert, N., Chabane, N., Gervais, H., Good, C. D., Bourgeois, M., Plumet, M. H., et al. (2004). Superior temporal sulcus anatomical abnormalities in childhood autism: A voxel-based morphometry MRI study. NeuroImage, 23(1), 364–369. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.06.016.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boucher, J. (2003). Language development in autism. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 67(Suppl 1), S159–S163. doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2003.08.016.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruneau, N., Bonnet-Brilhault, F., Gomot, M., Adrien, J. L., & Barthelemy, C. (2003). Cortical auditory processing and communication in children with autism: Electrophysiological/behavioral relations. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 51(1), 17–25. doi:10.1016/S0167-8760(03)00149-1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruneau, N., Roux, S., Adrien, J. L., & Barthelemy, C. (1999). Auditory associative cortex dysfunction in children with autism: Evidence from late auditory evoked potentials (N1 wave-T complex). Clinical Neurophysiology, 110(11), 1927–1934. doi:10.1016/S1388-2457(99)00149-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ceponiene, R., Lepisto, T., Shestakova, A., Vanhala, R., Alku, P., Naatanen, R., et al. (2003). Speech-sound-selective auditory impairment in children with autism: They can perceive but do not attend. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100(9), 5567–5572. doi:10.1073/pnas.0835631100.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ceponiene, R., Shestakova, A., Balan, P., Alku, P., Yiaguchi, K., & Naatanen, R. (2001). Children’s auditory event-related potentials index sound complexity and “speechness”. The International Journal of Neuroscience, 109(3–4), 245–260.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chawarska, K., Klin, A., Paul, R., & Volkmar, F. (2007). Autism spectrum disorder in the second year: Stability and change in syndrome expression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 48(2), 128–138. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01685.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, J. F. (1993). The influence of stimulus intensity, contralateral masking and handedness on the temporal N1 and the T complex components of the auditory N1 wave. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 86(1), 58–68. doi:10.1016/0013-4694(93)90067-6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Courchesne, E., Lincoln, A. J., Yeung-Courchesne, R., Elmasian, R., & Grillon, C. (1989). Pathophysiologic findings in nonretarded autism and receptive developmental language disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 19(1), 1–17. doi:10.1007/BF02212714.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Courchesne, E., & Pierce, K. (2005). Why the frontal cortex in autism might be talking only to itself: Local over-connectivity but long-distance disconnection. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 15(2), 225–230. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2005.03.001.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, J., Nicol, T., Zecker, S. G., Bradlow, A., & Kraus, N. (2001). Neurobiologic responses to speech in noise in children with learning problems: Deficits and strategies for improvement. Clinical Neurophysiology, 112(5), 758–767. doi:10.1016/S1388-2457(01)00465-5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, J., Nicol, T., Zecker, S., & Kraus, N. (2000). Speech-evoked neurophysiologic responses in children with learning problems: Development and behavioral correlates of perception. Ear and Hearing, 21(6), 554–568. doi:10.1097/00003446-200012000-00003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ferri, R., Elia, M., Agarwal, N., Lanuzza, B., Musumeci, S. A., & Pennisi, G. (2003). The mismatch negativity and the P3a components of the auditory event-related potentials in autistic low-functioning subjects. Clinical Neurophysiology, 114(9), 1671–1680. doi:10.1016/S1388-2457(03)00153-6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freitag, C. M. (2007). The genetics of autistic disorders and its clinical relevance: A review of the literature. Molecular Psychiatry, 12(1), 2–22. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001896.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gage, N. M., Siegel, B., Callen, M., & Roberts, T. P. (2003a). Cortical sound processing in children with autism disorder: An MEG investigation. NeuroReport, 14(16), 2047–2051. doi:10.1097/00001756-200311140-00008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gage, N. M., Siegel, B., & Roberts, T. P. (2003b). Cortical auditory system maturational abnormalities in children with autism disorder: An MEG investigation. Brain Research, 144(2), 201–209. doi:10.1016/S0165-3806(03)00172-X.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gorga, M. P., Abbas, P. J., & Worthington, D. W. (1985). Stimulus calibrations in ABR measurements. In J. T. Jacobson (Ed.), The auditory brainstem response (pp. 49–62). San Diego: College-Hill Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groen, M. A., Alku, P., & Bishop, D. V. (2008). Lateralisation of auditory processing in Down syndrome: A study of T-complex peaks Ta and Tb. Biological Psychology, 79(2), 148–157. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2008.04.003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J. W. (1992). Handbook of auditory evoked responses. Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happe, F., Ronald, A., & Plomin, R. (2006). Time to give up on a single explanation for autism. Nature Neuroscience, 9(10), 1218–1220. doi:10.1038/nn1770.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hardan, A. Y., Jou, R. J., Keshavan, M. S., Varma, R., & Minshew, N. J. (2004). Increased frontal cortical folding in autism: A preliminary MRI study. Psychiatry Research, 131(3), 263–268. doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2004.06.001.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hardan, A. Y., Muddasani, S., Vemulapalli, M., Keshavan, M. S., & Minshew, N. J. (2006). An MRI study of increased cortical thickness in autism. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 163(7), 1290–1292. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.163.7.1290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, E. A., Warrier, C. M., Nicol, T. G., Zecker, S. G., & Kraus, N. (2003). Neural plasticity following auditory training in children with learning problems. Clinical Neurophysiology, 114(4), 673–684. doi:10.1016/S1388-2457(02)00414-5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, M. R., Harris, G. J., Adrien, K. T., Ziegler, D. A., Makris, N., Kennedy, D. N., et al. (2002). Abnormal asymmetry in language association cortex in autism. Annals of Neurology, 52(5), 588–596. doi:10.1002/ana.10349.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, M. R., & Kenet, T. (2007). Brain abnormalities in language disorders and in autism. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 54(3), 563–583. doi:10.1016/j.pcl.2007.02.007. vii.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, M. R., Ziegler, D. A., Deutsch, C. K., O’Brien, L. M., Kennedy, D. N., Filipek, P. A., et al. (2005). Brain asymmetries in autism and developmental language disorder: A nested whole-brain analysis. Brain, 128(Pt 1), 213–226. doi:10.1093/brain/awh330.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hood, L. (1998). Clinical applications of the auditory brainstem response. Singular Publishing Group, Inc: San Diego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoormann, J., Falkenstein, M., & Hohnsbein, J. (2000). Early attention effects in human auditory-evoked potentials. Psychophysiology, 37, 29–42. doi:10.1017/S0048577200981290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, J. T. (Ed.). (1985). The auditory brainstem response. San Diego: College-Hill Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jansson-Verkasalo, E., Ceponiene, R., Kielinen, M., Suominen, K., Jantti, V., Linna, S. L., et al. (2003). Deficient auditory processing in children with Asperger syndrome, as indexed by event-related potentials. Neuroscience Letters, 338(3), 197–200. doi:10.1016/S0304-3940(02)01405-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone, S. J., Barry, R. J., Anderson, J. W., & Coyle, S. F. (1996). Age-related changes in child and adolescent event-related potential component morphology, amplitude and latency to standard and target stimuli in an auditory oddball task. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 24(3), 223–238. doi:10.1016/S0167-8760(96)00065-7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Just, M. A., Cherkassky, V. L., Keller, T. A., & Minshew, N. J. (2004). Cortical activation and synchronization during sentence comprehension in high-functioning autism: Evidence of underconnectivity. Brain, 127(Pt 8), 1811–1821. doi:10.1093/brain/awh199.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • King, C., Warrier, C. M., Hayes, E., & Kraus, N. (2002). Deficits in auditory brainstem pathway encoding of speech sounds in children with learning problems. Neuroscience Letters, 319(2), 111–115. doi:10.1016/S0304-3940(01)02556-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klatt, D. (1980). Software for cascade/parallel formant synthesizer. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 67, 971–975. doi:10.1121/1.383940.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraus, N., McGee, T. J., Zecker, S. G., Nicol, T., & Koch, D. B. (1996). Auditory neurophysiologic responses and discrimination deficits in children with learning problems. Science, 273, 971–973. doi:10.1126/science.273.5277.971.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhl, P. K., Coffey-Corina, S., Padden, D., & Dawson, G. (2005). Links between social and linguistic processing of speech in preschool children with autism: Behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Developmental Science, 8(1), F1–F12. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00384.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lavoie, B. A., Hine, J. E., & Thornton, R. D. (2008). The choice of distracting task can affect the quality of auditory evoked potentials recorded for clinical assessment. International Journal of Audiology, 47(7), 439–444. doi:10.1080/14992020802033109.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Le Couteur, A., Rutter, M., Lord, C., Rios, P., Robertson, S., Holdgrafer, M., et al. (1989). Autism diagnostic interview: A standardized investigator-based instrument. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 19(3), 363–387. doi:10.1007/BF02212936.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lepisto, T., Kujala, T., Vanhala, R., Alku, P., Huotilainen, M., & Naatanen, R. (2005). The discrimination of and orienting to speech and non-speech sounds in children with autism. Brain Research, 1066(1–2), 147–157. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2005.10.052.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lepisto, T., Silokallio, S., Nieminen-von Wendt, T., Alku, P., Naatanen, R., & Kujala, T. (2006). Auditory perception and attention as reflected by the brain event-related potentials in children with asperger syndrome. Clinical Neurophysiology, 117(10), 2161–2171. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.06.709.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lincoln, A. J., Courchesne, E., Harms, L., & Allen, M. (1995). Sensory modulation of auditory stimuli in children with autism and receptive developmental language disorder: Event-related brain potential evidence. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 25(5), 521–539. doi:10.1007/BF02178298.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • London, E. (2007). The role of the neurobiologist in redefining the diagnosis of autism. Brain Pathology (Zurich, Switzerland), 17(4), 408–411. doi:10.1111/j.1750-3639.2007.00103.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., & Richler, J. (2006). Early diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorders. In T. Charman & W. Stone (Eds.), Social and communication development in autism spectrum disorders: Early identification, diagnosis, & intervention (pp. 35–59). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H., Jr, Leventhal, B. L., DiLavore, P. C., et al. (2000). The autism diagnostic observation schedule-generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(3), 205–223. doi:10.1023/A:1005592401947.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Rutter, M., Goode, S., Heemsbergen, J., Jordan, H., Mawhood, L., et al. (1989). Autism diagnostic observation schedule: A standardized observation of communicative and social behavior. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 19(2), 185–212. doi:10.1007/BF02211841.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Le Couteur, A. (1994). Autism diagnostic interview-revised: A revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24(5), 659–685. doi:10.1007/BF02172145.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, B. A., Sigal, A., Kurtzberg, D., & Stapells, D. R. (1997). The effects of decreased audibility produced by high-pass noise masking on cortical event-related potentials to speech sounds/ba/and /da/. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 101(3), 1585–1599. doi:10.1121/1.418146.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McArthur, G. M., Bishop, D. V., & Proudfoot, M. (2003). Do video sounds interfere with auditory event-related potentials? Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers: a journal of the Psychonomic Society Inc, 35(2), 329–333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minshew, N. J., & Williams, D. L. (2007). The new neurobiology of autism: Cortex, connectivity, and neuronal organization. Archives of Neurology, 64(7), 945–950. doi:10.1001/archneur.64.7.945.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muller, R. A., Behen, M. E., Rothermel, R. D., Chugani, D. C., Muzik, O., Mangner, T. J., et al. (1999). Brain mapping of language and auditory perception in high-functioning autistic adults: A pet study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 29(1), 19–31. doi:10.1023/A:1025914515203.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Naatanen, R., & Picton, T. (1987). The N1 wave of the human electric and magnetic response to sound: A review and an analysis of the component structure. Psychophysiology, 24(4), 375–425. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1987.tb00311.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oades, R. D., Walker, M. K., Geffen, L. B., & Stern, L. M. (1988). Event-related potentials in autistic and healthy children on an auditory choice reaction time task. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 6(1), 25–37. doi:10.1016/0167-8760(88)90032-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ponton, C., Eggermont, J. J., Khosla, D., Kwong, B., & Don, M. (2002). Maturation of human central auditory system activity: Separating auditory evoked potentials by dipole source modeling. Clinical Neurophysiology, 113(3), 407–420. doi:10.1016/S1388-2457(01)00733-7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rapin, I., & Dunn, M. (2003). Update on the language disorders of individuals on the autistic spectrum. Brain and Development, 25(3), 166–172. doi:10.1016/S0387-7604(02)00191-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rojas, D. C., Bawn, S. D., Benkers, T. L., Reite, M. L., & Rogers, S. J. (2002). Smaller left hemisphere planum temporale in adults with autistic disorder. Neuroscience Letters, 328(3), 237–240. doi:10.1016/S0304-3940(02)00521-9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rojas, D. C., Camou, S. L., Reite, M. L., & Rogers, S. J. (2005). Planum temporale volume in children and adolescents with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35(4), 479–486. doi:10.1007/s10803-005-5038-7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Russo, N., Nicol, T., Trommer, B., Zecker, S., & Kraus, N. (2009). Brainstem transcription of speech is disrupted in children with autism spectrum disorders. Developmental Science. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00790.x.

  • Russo, N., Skoe, E., Trommer, B., Nicol, T., Zecker, S., Bradlow, A., et al. (2008). Deficient brainstem encoding of pitch in children with autism spectrum disorders. Clinical Neurophysiology, 119(8), 1720–1731. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2008.01.108.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saalasti, S., Lepistö, T., Toppila, E., Kujala, T., Laakso, M., Nieminen-von Wendt, T., et al. (2008). Language abilities of children with asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(8), 1574–1580. doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0540-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Salmond, C. H., Vargha-Khadem, F., Gadian, D. G., de Haan, M., & Baldeweg, T. (2007). Heterogeneity in the patterns of neural abnormality in autistic spectrum disorders: Evidence from ERP and MRI. Cortex, 43(6), 686–699. doi:10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70498-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Semel, E., Wiig, E. H., & Secord, W. A. (2003). Clinical evaluation of language fundamentals (4th ed.). San Antonio, TX: Harcourt Assessment, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seri, S., Cerquiglini, A., Pisani, F., & Curatolo, P. (1999). Autism in tuberous sclerosis: Evoked potential evidence for a deficit in auditory sensory processing. Clinical Neurophysiology, 110(10), 1825–1830. doi:10.1016/S1388-2457(99)00137-6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shriberg, L. D., Paul, R., McSweeny, J. L., Klin, A. M., Cohen, D. J., & Volkmar, F. R. (2001). Speech and prosody characteristics of adolescents and adults with high-functioning autism and asperger syndrome. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research: JSLHR, 44(5), 1097–1115. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2001/087).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Siegal, M., & Blades, M. (2003). Language and auditory processing in autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(9), 378–380. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00194-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H., & Caronna, E. (2007). Language disorders: Autism and other pervasive developmental disorders. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 54(3), 469–481. doi:10.1016/j.pcl.2007.02.011. vi.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tsatsanis, K. (2005). Neuropsychological aspects of autism and related conditions. In F. Volkmar, R. Paul, A. Klin, & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (Vol. 1, pp. 365–381). New York, NY: Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volkmar, F. R., Lord, C., Bailey, A., Schultz, R. T., & Klin, A. (2004). Autism and pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 45(1), 135–170. doi:10.1046/j.0021-9630.2003.00317.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warrier, C. M., Johnson, K. L., Hayes, E. A., Nicol, T., & Kraus, N. (2004). Learning impaired children exhibit timing deficits and training-related improvements in auditory cortical responses to speech in noise. Experimental Brain Research, 157(4), 431–441. doi:10.1007/s00221-004-1857-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehouse, A. J. O., & Bishop, D. (2008). Do children with autism ‘switch off’ to speech sounds? An investigation using event-related potentials. Developmental Science, 11(4), 516–524. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00697.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whiting, K. A., Martin, B. A., & Stapells, D. R. (1998). The effects of broadband noise masking on cortical event-related potentials to speech sounds/ba/and/da/. Ear and Hearing, 19(3), 218–231. doi:10.1097/00003446-199806000-00005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wible, B., Nicol, T., & Kraus, N. (2002). Abnormal neural encoding of repeated speech stimuli in noise in children with learning problems. Clinical Neurophysiology, 113(4), 485–494. doi:10.1016/S1388-2457(02)00017-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wible, B., Nicol, T., & Kraus, N. (2004). Atypical brainstem representation of onset and formant structure of speech sounds in children with language-based learning problems. Biological Psychology, 67, 299–317. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.02.002.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wible, B., Nicol, T., & Kraus, N. (2005). Correlation between brainstem and cortical auditory processes in normal and language-impaired children. Brain, 128(Pt 2), 417–423. doi:10.1093/brain/awh367.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wickelgren, I. (2005). Neurology. Autistic brains out of synch? Science [New York, N. Y (Dayton, Ohio)], 308(5730), 1856–1858.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woerner, C., & Overstreet, K. (Eds.). (1999). Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence (WASI). San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by NIH R01 DC01510. The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests. We would like to thank the children who participated in this study and their families; Trent Nicol, Gabriella Musacchia, and Daniel Abrams for assisting with peak picking; Trent Nicol and Erika Skoe for their contributions to this research, particularly in technical aspects of data processing and software development; Jane Hornickel for her assistance with data collection.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Nicole Russo, Steven Zecker & Nina Kraus

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neurology, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Barbara Trommer

  3. Biological Sciences Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Julia Chen

  4. The Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences; Neurobiology & Physiology; Otolaryngology, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Nina Kraus

Authors
  1. Nicole Russo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Steven Zecker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Barbara Trommer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Julia Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Nina Kraus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Nicole Russo or Nina Kraus.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Russo, N., Zecker, S., Trommer, B. et al. Effects of Background Noise on Cortical Encoding of Speech in Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 39, 1185–1196 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0737-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0737-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation