Brain Advance Access published online on October 5, 2007
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awm235
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Auditory processing disorder in children with reading disabilities: effect of audiovisual training
1Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69003, France, université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5020, Lyon, F-60007, France, Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Pavillon U, Service d'Audiologie et d'Explorations Orofaciales, F-69003 Lyon, France, IFNL, Lyon, F-60003, France and 2Université de Lyon, Bron, F-69676, France, université Lyon 2, CNRS, EA 3082, Laboratoire EMC, Bron, F-69676, France
Correspondence to:
Evelyne Veuillet, Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Pavillon U, Service d’Audiologie et d’Explorations Orofaciales, Place d’Arsonval, 69437 Lyon Cedex 03, France E-mail: evelyne.veuillet{at}chu-lyon.fr
Reading disability is associated with phonological problems which might originate in auditory processing disorders. The aim of the present study was 2-fold: first, the perceptual skills of average-reading children and children with dyslexia were compared in a categorical perception task assessing the processing of a phonemic contrast based on voice onset time (VOT). The medial olivocochlear (MOC) system, an inhibitory pathway functioning under central control, was also explored. Secondly, we investigated whether audiovisual training focusing on voicing contrast could modify VOT sensitivity and, in parallel, induce MOC system plasticity. The results showed an altered voicing sensitivity in some children with dyslexia, and that the most severely impaired children presented the most severe reading difficulties. These deficits in VOT perception were sometimes accompanied by MOC function abnormalities, in particular a reduction in or even absence of the asymmetry in favour of the right ear found in average-reading children. Audiovisual training significantly improved reading and shifted the categorical perception curve of certain children with dyslexia towards the average-reading children's pattern of voicing sensitivity. Likewise, in certain children MOC functioning showed increased asymmetry in favour of the right ear following audiovisual training. The training-related improvements in reading score were greatest in children presenting the greatest changes in MOC lateralization. Taken together, these results confirm the notion that some auditory system processing mechanisms are impaired in children with dyslexia and that audiovisual training can diminish these deficits.
Key Words: VOT; auditory efferent; lateralization; training; dyslexia
Abbreviations: MOC, medial olivocochlear; VOT, voice onset time
Received April 12, 2007. Revised September 4, 2007. Accepted September 5, 2007.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  K. Banai, J. Hornickel, E. Skoe, T. Nicol, S. Zecker, and N. Kraus Reading and Subcortical Auditory Function Cereb Cortex, November 1, 2009; 19(11): 2699 - 2707. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. Grataloup, M. Hoen, E. Veuillet, L. Collet, F. Pellegrino, and F. Meunier Speech Restoration: An Interactive Process J Speech Lang Hear Res, August 1, 2009; 52(4): 827 - 838. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W. Lilaonitkul and J. J. Guinan Jr. Reflex Control of the Human Inner Ear: A Half-Octave Offset in Medial Efferent Feedback That Is Consistent With an Efferent Role in the Control of Masking J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2009; 101(3): 1394 - 1406. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. de Boer and A. R. D. Thornton Neural Correlates of Perceptual Learning in the Auditory Brainstem: Efferent Activity Predicts and Reflects Improvement at a Speech-in-Noise Discrimination Task J. Neurosci., May 7, 2008; 28(19): 4929 - 4937. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|