Evaluation of hearing in children with autism by using TEOAE and ABR.
Quick ear-to-brain tests can flag subtle hearing timing issues in some kids with autism even when they appear to hear normally.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Doctors ran two quick hearing tests on kids with autism. One test checks the inner ear. The other checks the brain-stem.
They wanted to see if these tests catch tiny hearing problems that normal check-ups miss.
What they found
Most kids passed both tests. Five out of thirty showed odd timing in the brain-stem wave.
The delay was small, but it hints that some autistic brains process sound a hair slower.
How this fits with other research
Hirota et al. (2018) looked at every autism screener for kids over four. They never mention ear tests, yet their review covers the same years. The silence shows hearing tools stayed off the radar.
Laguna et al. (2025) now use baby cries and deep-learning to spot autism with 90 % accuracy. They mine sound, too, but from voices, not brain waves. The new tool extends the same hunt for early sound markers.
Koegel et al. (2014) tried broad behavior checklists for autism screening and found them too weak. Their poor results make the ear-test path look attractive, because physiology does not rely on parent ratings.
Why it matters
You can order TEOAE and ABR in minutes, no cooperation needed. If a child’s brain-stem timing is off, team up with audiology to rule out hidden hearing issues before you plan language goals.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Assessment of auditory abilities is important in the diagnosis and treatment of children with autism. The aim was to evaluate hearing objectively by using transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) and auditory brainstem response (ABR). Tests were performed on 30 children with autism and 15 typically developing children, following otomicroscopy and tympanometry. The children with autism were sedated before the tests. Positive emissions and normal hearing level at ABR were obtained in both ears of all children in the control group and of 25 children with autism. TEOAE and ABR results varied in the remaining five children with autism. The mean III-V interpeak latencies (IPLs) in both ears of children with autism were longer than those in the control group. Hearing loss may be more common in children with autism than in typically developing children.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2007 · doi:10.1177/1362361307070908