Left hemispheric deficit in the sustained neuromagnetic response to periodic click trains in children with ASD.
T A Stroganova, K S Komarov, O V Sysoeva and 5 others
PMID 33384021WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism showed a normal brain response to the rhythm of clicks but a delayed response to pitch processing in the left hemisphere.
This suggests a specific low-level neural deficit in how the brain extracts sound patterns, distinct from general hearing issues.
Key findings
01The sustained neuromagnetic response associated with pitch processing was significantly delayed and reduced in the left hemisphere of children with ASD compared to neurotypical controls.
02The auditory steady-state response, which reflects processing of the rhythm of the clicks, did not differ significantly between children with ASD and neurotypical children.
03The delay in the left-hemisphere pitch response was present regardless of the child's IQ or the severity of their autism symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only boys, so it is unclear if the findings apply to girls with ASD. Participants were aged 7-12, so it does not account for developmental changes during or after puberty. The study used only one click rate (40 Hz), so the deficit might be specific to this frequency. The researchers did not directly test the children's ability to perceive pitch in speech or non-speech sounds, relying instead on neural proxies.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by the Charity Foundation 'Way Out', Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, and Gothenburg University Library. No specific financial conflicts of interest with commercial entities were declared in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the delayed brain response as a general hearing loss or a deficit in all auditory processing. The study found that the brain's response to the simple rhythm of clicks was normal; the deficit was specific to the higher-level processing of pitch and periodicity in the left hemisphere.