Contralateral Suppression of Otoacoustic Emissions in Children with Specific Language Impairment

In Brief Objective: The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether a group of children with specific language impairments (SLI) have reduced peripheral auditory processes thought to be associated with speech-in-noise intelligibility. Design: Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) and their suppression by the efferent activity of the medial olivocochlear system (MOCS) in response to contralateral acoustic stimulation were used to compare these processes in 18 children with SLI and 21 controls. Results: The results revealed no group difference in TEOAE suppression effect or left/right asymmetry of TEOAE suppression effect. Conclusions: These results suggest that children with SLI do not have auditory processing problems at this peripheral level casting doubt on a hypothesized relationship between strength of MOCS activity and language impairment. Behavioral studies indicate that auditory perception deficits may contribute to the language difficulties seen in some children with specific language impairments (SLI), yet there has been no objective investigation of peripheral auditory processes thought to be associated with speech-in-noise intelligibility in these children. We measured transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) and their suppression in response to contralateral acoustic stimulation in a group of children with SLI and a control group and found no significant group differences. These results suggest that children with SLI do not have auditory processing problems at this peripheral level.