Children with autism spectrum disorder have reduced otoacoustic emissions at the 1 kHz mid-frequency region.
Loisa Bennetto, Jessica M Keith, Paul D Allen and 1 others
PMID 27404771WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism had weaker cochlear emissions at 1 kHz than typically developing peers, despite normal hearing tests.
In children with autism, the difference was frequency-specific and associated with severity, not IQ.
Key findings
01Children with ASD had significantly lower DPOAE responses at 1 kHz in both ears than typically developing controls.
02The DPOAE difference was specific to 1 kHz; other frequencies tested from 500 Hz to 8 kHz did not differ significantly between groups.
03In the ASD group, lower 1 kHz DPOAE responses were associated with more severe autism symptoms, but not with verbal comprehension or Full Scale IQ.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study compared groups at one time point, so it cannot show that the OAE difference caused symptoms or that it changes over development. The typically developing group had higher Full Scale IQ than the ASD group, which may affect group comparisons. Only children with ASD who had Full Scale IQ scores of 85 or higher were enrolled, so the findings may not apply to children with lower IQ. The ASD group was described as male, so the findings may not apply to girls with autism. Four consented children with ASD were excluded for hearing thresholds above the cutoffs. The study used screening audiometry at 20 dB SPL or lower, so it did not measure whether children with ASD had finer threshold differences. The OAE differences were group-level findings, not evidence that an individual child can be diagnosed from an OAE result.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that children with autism have hearing loss or that OAE testing can diagnose autism. All participants had normal hearing screens, and the study reported group differences, not individual diagnostic accuracy.