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Auditory Processing in Children with Specific Language Impairment: A FFR Based Study

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Abstract

Specific language impairment (SLI) is diagnosed when a child has difficulty in producing or understanding spoken language for no apparent reason. The study attempted to assess the sub-cortical encoding in children with SLI using speech-evoked auditory brainstem response (ABR). The objective of the study was to compare the amplitude and latency of the frequency following response (FFR) parameters between the children with SLI and typically developing children. The frequency following response was recorded using/da/stimuli from ten ears of children diagnosed with SLI. The amplitude and the latencies of the different peaks of FFR in children with SLI were compared with those of typically developing children. The results of the study showed that the latencies of wave C and D were significantly prolonged in children with SLI compared to typically developing children. The waveforms obtained from the typically developing (TD) children were clearer and easily identifiable, with larger negativity observed in the troughs. The waveform morphology was poorer in children with SLI with shallower peaks. Thus, it can be concluded that speech evoked ABR gives an insight into the auditory processing ability of children with SLI. It indicates that signal processing in the auditory pathway of children with SLI is temporally distorted and which might affect the development of language.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge with gratitude Prof. M Pushpavathi, Director, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore for permitting to conduct the study at the institute. The authors also acknowledge the participants for their co-operation. The authors would also like to acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, for funding the study.

Funding

The present study is a part of an ongoing project funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Audiology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Manasagangothri, Naimisham campus, Mysore, Karnataka, 570006, India

    Animesh Barman, Prashanth Prabhu, V. G. Mekhala, Kavya Vijayan & N. Swapna

Authors
  1. Animesh Barman
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  2. Prashanth Prabhu
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  3. V. G. Mekhala
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  4. Kavya Vijayan
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  5. N. Swapna
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis of the results and writing the manuscript were performed by Animesh Barman, Prashanth Prabhu, Mekhala V G, Kavya Vijayan and Swapna N. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Mekhala V G and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript, drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content, approved the version to be published and have agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Prashanth Prabhu.

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Conflicts of interest

The authors do not have any conflicts of interests to disclose. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Consent to Participate

All the procedures were explained to the parents of the participants, and informed consent was obtained from the parents of all the participants as they were below 10 years of age (age range: 4 – 7 years of age) of the study.

Consent for Publication

Additional informed consent for publication was obtained from the parents of all individual participants.

Ethics Approval

In the present study, all the testing procedures were carried out using non-invasive techniques, adhering to the guidelines of the Ethics Approval Committee of the institute (SH/ERB/PB-112).

Data Transperency

All the data in the present study comply with the field standards.

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Barman, A., Prabhu, P., Mekhala, V.G. et al. Auditory Processing in Children with Specific Language Impairment: A FFR Based Study. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 74 (Suppl 1), 368–373 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-020-02127-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-020-02127-x

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