Auditory Evoked Responses to Single Tones and Closely Spaced Tone Pairs in Children Grouped by Reading or Matrices Abilities

Abstract

Long latency auditory evoked responses (AER) were formed to single tones and rapid tone pairs. Using the t-statistic SPM technique, children with poorer WIAT reading scores demonstrated group difference overlying the left parietal and frontal language regions but just for AER to tone pair stimuli. Variables derived from these regions were not significantly different when the same subjects were grouped by K-BIT Matrices scores. When the same children were regrouped by Matrices scores and compared using the SPM technique, differences were now seen over the right hemisphere, especially in the parietal and frontotemporal regions, for both single and two-tone derived AERs. Variables derived from these regions were not significantly different for children when grouped by reading score. AER data support a specific deficit in two-tone stimulation for poorer reading children over the left hemisphere and also a deficit to both single and two-tone stimulation over the right hemisphere for children with poorer Matrices scores.