Prolonged Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials: An Autism-Specific or Autism-Nonspecific Marker

Pre-attentive auditory sensory processing in autistic spectrum disorder. Are electromagnetic measurements telling us a coherent story?

“…The authors concluded that abnormalities in early components of the auditory brainstem responses are not necessary to the development of autism and cannot be considered as the sole liability for autism. Recently, discussion regarding the interpretation of brainstem abnormalities has revamped (Nagy and Loveland, 2002). Some scepticism was raised on the non-specific nature of these latter findings, suggesting that these are also seen in patients with language disorders.…”

Cortical auditory evoked potentials in autism: a review

“…For example, prolonged BAEPs have been associated with other nonspecific delays including language development with or without mental retardation (Lahat et al, 1995;Purvis and Tannock, 1997;Zafeiriou et al, 2000). Studies continue to demonstrate equivocal findings and now emphasize the likelihood that BAEP abnormalities are subtle and probably useful for characterizing autistic subgroups (Maziade et al, 2000;McClelland et al, 1992;Rosenhall et al, 2003;Thivierge et al, 1990;Wong and Wong, 1991), and possibly their first-degree relatives (August et al, 1981;Nagy and Loveland, 2002;Plumet et al, 1995). Despite valiant, large-scale efforts (e.g.…”