Behavioral, electroacoustic and electrophysiological assessment of hearing in autism. / "Avaliação comportamental, eletroacústica e eletrofisiológica da audição em autismo"

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2006

RESUMO

INTRODUCTION: Autism is a disorder, which begins in the infancy, and the main characteristics are the presence of an abnormal or impaired development of social interaction and communication, and restrict range of activities and interest. Some theories consider autism as a developmental disorder caused by a central nervous system alteration, and stress the presence of a cognitive deficit in this population. Studies also demonstrate the presence of electrophysiological abnormalities in the auditory evoked potentials of short middle and long latencies. Considering the importance of the peripheral and central auditory system integrity for the speech and language acquisition and development and for learning, it becomes important to identify and treat hearing abnormalities, either peripheral or central, in autistic individuals. AIM: to characterize the findings of behavioral, electroacoustic and electrophysiological assessments of autistic individuals, as well as to compare those findings with the ones of normal individuals of the same age. METHOD: 16 individuals with autism (study group) and 25 normal ones (control group), ranging in age from eight and 20 years underwent anamnesis, pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, acoustic immitance measures, brainstem auditory evoked potential, middle latency response and cognitive potential. RESULTS: Comparing the normal and altered results (qualitative analysis), no alterations were found in the behavioral assessment of hearing in both groups. Comparing the results of the behavioral and electroacoustic evaluations between the two groups, there were no statistical differences. The control group presented altered results only in the middle latency auditory evoked potential and the most common type of alteration was both electrode effect and ear effect occurring simultaneously. The study group presented altered results in all auditory evoked potentials with a significant statistical difference when compared to the control group. Concerning the types of alterations found in the study group it was verified higher occurrence of lower brainstem alteration in the brainstem auditory evoked potential, both electrode and ear effect occurring simultaneously in the middle latency auditory evoked potential, and absence of response in the cognitive potential. The quantitative analysis of the auditory evoked potentials results showed a significant statistical difference between the groups only in the brainstem auditory evoked potential, concerning the latencies of waves III and V and interpeaks I-III and I-V. CONCLUSION: autistic individuals do not present altered behavioral and electroacoustic evaluations, and present altered brainstem auditory evoked potential and cognitive potential, suggesting prejudice in the brainstem auditory pathway and cortical regions.

ASSUNTO(S)

audiometria psychoacoustics p300 event-related potentials transtorno autístico audiometry auditory brain stem evoked potentials autistic disorder testes de impedância acústica psico-acústica acoustic impedance tests auditory evoked potentials potencial evocado p300 transtornos globais do desenvolvimento infantil potenciais evocados auditivos pervasive child development disorders potenciais evocados auditivos de tronco encefálico

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