Skip to main content
Log in

Newborn Auditory Brainstem Responses in Children with Developmental Disabilities

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

Abstract

We integrated data from a newborn hearing screening database and a preschool disability database to examine the relationship between newborn click evoked auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) and developmental disabilities. This sample included children with developmental delay (n = 2992), speech impairment (SI, n = 905), language impairment (n = 566), autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 370), and comparison children (n = 128,181). We compared the phase of the ABR waveform, a measure of sound processing latency, across groups. Children with SI and children with ASD had greater newborn ABR phase values than both the comparison group and the developmental delay group. Newborns later diagnosed with SI or ASD have slower neurological responses to auditory stimuli, suggesting sensory differences at birth.

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

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Acknowledgments

The support of the Florida Department of Education and MEDNAX for providing the records is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would also like to recognize and thank Olga Camacho, Antonio Gonzalez, and Jillian Gerstenberger for their assistance in preparing the datasets and Chris Gralapp, CMI for the artwork used in Fig. 1.

Funding

Rafael E. Delgado is the Director of Research and Software Development for Intelligent Hearing Systems Corporation (IHS). Auditory brainstem response (ABR) data were acquired using IHS equipment. Rafael Delgado was not involved in the data collection/newborn screening process. The remaining authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose. The funding was provided by National Science Foundation (Grant No. NSF CAREER Award 1653737) and National Institutes of Health (Grant No. NIH SBIR 1R43DC018430-01).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

CFD conceptualized and designed the study, drafed the initial manuscript, supervised data linkage, processed data, conducted data and statistical analyses, interpreted findings, reviewed and revised the manuscript. EAS conceptualized and designed the study, drafted the intial manuscript, conducted data and statistical analyses, interpreted findings, and reviewed and revised the manuscript. GZ conducted data and statistical analyses, interpreted findings, and reviewed and revised the manuscript. OM and RED conceptualized and designed the study, interpreted findings, and reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine F. Delgado.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose.

Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the University of Miami Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 70 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Delgado, C.F., Simpson, E.A., Zeng, G. et al. Newborn Auditory Brainstem Responses in Children with Developmental Disabilities. J Autism Dev Disord 53, 776–788 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05126-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05126-1

Keywords

Navigation