title: Speech evoked auditory brainstem response in stuttering.
abstract: Auditory processing deficits have been hypothesized as an underlying mechanism for stuttering. Previous studies have demonstrated abnormal responses in subjects with persistent developmental stuttering (PDS) at the higher level of the central auditory system using speech stimuli. Recently, the potential usefulness of speech evoked auditory brainstem responses in central auditory processing disorders has been emphasized. The current study used the speech evoked ABR to investigate the hypothesis that subjects with PDS have specific auditory perceptual dysfunction. Objectives. To determine whether brainstem responses to speech stimuli differ between PDS subjects and normal fluent speakers. Methods. Twenty-five subjects with PDS participated in this study. The speech-ABRs were elicited by the 5-formant synthesized syllable/da/, with duration of 40 ms. Results. There were significant group differences for the onset and offset transient peaks. Subjects with PDS had longer latencies for the onset and offset peaks relative to the control group. Conclusions. Subjects with PDS showed a deficient neural timing in the early stages of the auditory pathway consistent with temporal processing deficits and their abnormal timing may underlie to their disfluency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 15459-13187, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali Akbar
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Tahaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Sciences in Rehabilitation, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 15459-13187, Iran ; Rehabilitation Research Center, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 15459-13187, Iran.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ashayeri
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 15459-13187, Iran ; Rehabilitation Research Center, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 15459-13187, Iran.
authors.forename: Akram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pourbakht
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Sciences in Rehabilitation, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 15459-13187, Iran ; Rehabilitation Research Center, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 15459-13187, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamali