TY - JOUR
T1 - Context-Dependent Encoding in the Human Auditory Brainstem Relates to Hearing Speech in Noise
T2 - Implications for Developmental Dyslexia
AU - Chandrasekaran, Bharath
AU - Hornickel, Jane
AU - Skoe, Erika
AU - Nicol, Trent
AU - Kraus, Nina
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Steve Zecker, Brad Wible, Patrick Wong, and Ed Rubel for their comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. We would like to thank the members of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory who aided in data collection, and the children and their families who participated in the study. This work was supported by Grants NIH/NIDCD RO1-01510, F32DC008052, and NSF BCS-544846, and by the Hugh Knowles Center at Northwestern University.
PY - 2009/11/12
Y1 - 2009/11/12
N2 - We examined context-dependent encoding of speech in children with and without developmental dyslexia by measuring auditory brainstem responses to a speech syllable presented in a repetitive or variable context. Typically developing children showed enhanced brainstem representation of features related to voice pitch in the repetitive context, relative to the variable context. In contrast, children with developmental dyslexia exhibited impairment in their ability to modify representation in predictable contexts. From a functional perspective, we found that the extent of context-dependent encoding in the auditory brainstem correlated positively with behavioral indices of speech perception in noise. The ability to sharpen representation of repeating elements is crucial to speech perception in noise, since it allows superior "tagging" of voice pitch, an important cue for segregating sound streams in background noise. The disruption of this mechanism contributes to a critical deficit in noise-exclusion, a hallmark symptom in developmental dyslexia.
AB - We examined context-dependent encoding of speech in children with and without developmental dyslexia by measuring auditory brainstem responses to a speech syllable presented in a repetitive or variable context. Typically developing children showed enhanced brainstem representation of features related to voice pitch in the repetitive context, relative to the variable context. In contrast, children with developmental dyslexia exhibited impairment in their ability to modify representation in predictable contexts. From a functional perspective, we found that the extent of context-dependent encoding in the auditory brainstem correlated positively with behavioral indices of speech perception in noise. The ability to sharpen representation of repeating elements is crucial to speech perception in noise, since it allows superior "tagging" of voice pitch, an important cue for segregating sound streams in background noise. The disruption of this mechanism contributes to a critical deficit in noise-exclusion, a hallmark symptom in developmental dyslexia.
KW - HUMDISEASE
KW - SYSBIO
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70350772353&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuron.2009.10.006
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2009.10.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 19914180
AN - SCOPUS:70350772353
VL - 64
SP - 311
EP - 319
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
SN - 0896-6273
IS - 3
ER -