title: Auditory biological marker of concussion in children.
abstract: Concussions carry devastating potential for cognitive, neurologic, and socio-emotional disease, but no objective test reliably identifies a concussion and its severity. A variety of neurological insults compromise sound processing, particularly in complex listening environments that place high demands on brain processing. The frequency-following response captures the high computational demands of sound processing with extreme granularity and reliably reveals individual differences. We hypothesize that concussions disrupt these auditory processes, and that the frequency-following response indicates concussion occurrence and severity. Specifically, we hypothesize that concussions disrupt the processing of the fundamental frequency, a key acoustic cue for identifying and tracking sounds and talkers, and, consequently, understanding speech in noise. Here we show that children who sustained a concussion exhibit a signature neural profile. They have worse representation of the fundamental frequency, and smaller and more sluggish neural responses. Neurophysiological responses to the fundamental frequency partially recover to control levels as concussion symptoms abate, suggesting a gain in biological processing following partial recovery. Neural processing of sound correctly identifies 90% of concussion cases and clears 95% of control cases, suggesting this approach has practical potential as a scalable biological marker for sports-related concussion and other types of mild traumatic brain injuries.
authors.affiliation: Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.|Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.|Department of Neurobiology &Physiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.|Department of Otolaryngology, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kraus
authors.affiliation: Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.|Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Elaine C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.|Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krizman
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery &Sports Medicine, Ann &Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.|Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.|Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Travis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: White-Schwoch
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery &Sports Medicine, Ann &Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.|Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Cynthia R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: LaBella
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010898:Pitch Perception; D013017:Sound Localization