Today, people rely on their 5 senses to see the beauty of nature and life. The sense of sound is essential in listening to music, people, and the world around them to be able to make everlasting memories. Sound is, however, more than mere hearing; it is the precursor to overall health and function of the brain. What if auditory processing can be identified for neurological health in people whether genetically or man?
Not long ago, I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. She worked to determine whether concussions could be identified in children through brain responses to sound. Krizman’s research on concussions was aimed at identifying if brain responses to sound were identification of concussions in children (Krizman, 2023) by studying fundamental frequency (FO), “also known as the pitch cue”, and the frequency following response (FFR) and its effects on auditory processing following a concussion. One of the first observations was the effect of concussions on neural timing. A concussion therefore hampers the coordinated firing of neurons, which constitutes sound encoding. Brain responses are desynchronized, signals are dispersed, and arranged electrophysiological potentials of pitch have reduced efficacy. Finally, in those who have had a concussion, the auditory brainstem encoding of sound was tested by looking at FFR. There was a weakening of the F0 pitch, reduction of the response, and less accurate tracking of the sound in response to stimuli. In summary, concussions have adverse effects on the subcortical encoding of information, and this understanding can be a focal point in identifying injury or recovery.
A Neuroscience-based research study I came across, “Neural coding of formant-exaggerated speech and nonspeech in children with and without autism spectrum disorders” by Chen et al. Specifically, the TD children and children with ASD underwent testing of neurophysiological encoding of speech sounds at the neural level through a mechanism known as the frequency following response (FFR). The first conclusion was that children with ASD lacked automatic neural enhancement of exaggerating their speech compared to TD children. An exaggerated speech in TD children resulted in a better neural response, and the brainstem response was more accurate than in children with ASD whose neural response did not increase significantly and there was no brainstem response to enhancement. This reflects the influence on the cortex, which normally makes for its enhancement towards the brainstem responses to meaningful speech. In ASD children, the lack of enhancement meant speech was neurologically prioritized differently than in TD children. Finally, this can have a downside effect on the language development of children with ASD. From the neural differences, research can point towards early sensory contributions to language and differences in communication when it comes to autism.
While Dr. Krizman’s study focused on an injury and Dr. Chen’s was developmental, both studies demonstrated how the auditory system can be susceptible to disruption in the brain, leaving speech processing vulnerable. In concussed children, there was delayed neural timing in the brainstem that affected the encoding of speech, and in ASD children, their exaggerated speech was not able to lead to the neural enhancement experienced by TD children due to their altered use of the cortex. Ultimately, this shows a neurodevelopment comparison to neurotrauma and its effects in areas of the brain, leading to implications. This can then potentially be used to catch indicators of neurological health
Kraus, N., Thompson, E. C., Krizman, J., Cook, K., White-Schwoch, T., & LaBella, C. R. (2016). Auditory biological marker of concussion in children. Scientific Reports, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39009
Chen, F., Zhang, H., Ding, H., Wang, S., Peng, G., & Zhang, Y. (2021). Neural coding of formant‐exaggerated speech and nonspeech in children with and without autism spectrum disorders. Autism Research, 14(7), 1357–1374. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2509
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