Potenziali uditivi evocati del tronco in bambini normoudenti con turbe del linguaggio

The auditory brainstem responses (ABR) of 57 normally hearing children (age 1-6) suffering from a retarded language development were evaluated. Thirtytwo out of 57 children were suffering from previous diagnosed pathologies (CNS lesions, perinatal, congenital syndrom), 27 had a psychomotor retard. ABR was evaluated in terms of inter-peack I-V latency and V/I amplitude ratio. While the amplitude parameters were normal, 40% of cases showed I-V intervals exceeding the normal boundaries. These findings did not correlate either to pathology nor to psychomotor retard. The I-V intervals showed a bimodal distribution troughout the four age subgroups the children population had been subdivided, with a first peack corresponding to the normal mode, and a second one above the normal limit. This latter approximated the normal range of I-V interval in the age subgroup above 4 years. Assuming the I-V intervals changes as index of the maturation processs in the brainstem auditory pathway, our results seem to indicate that the retarded language development may be frequently associated to a delay in CNS maturation.