Gender differences in binaural speech-evoked auditory brainstem response: are they clinically significant?

The effects of gender and academic achievement on reading fluency among Year 2 Malaysian school children

OBJECTIVE

Language disorders can affect reading skills contributing to poor academic achievements. As such, it is vital for speech language pathologists to identify the potential language-based reading problems among children. To achieve this, specific reading assessments should be developed and studied. Thus, the present study aimed to determine the effects of gender and academic achievement on oral reading fluency (ORF) and silent reading fluency (SRF) among Year 2 Malaysian children.

METHODS

In this study that employed a comparative design, fifty-nine typically developing Malaysian children (24 boys, aged from 8 years, 0 months to 8 years, 11 months) were enrolled. They were chosen from three different classrooms (consisting of high achieving, medium achieving and low achieving students, respectively) in a primary school. Their ORF and SRF skills were assessed according to the established methods.

RESULTS

As revealed by two-way ANOVA results, both ORF and SRF scores were found to be comparable between boys and girls (p > 0.05). In contrast, ORF and SRF results between the three classrooms were significantly different from each other (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The present study provides the first report on oral and silent reading fluency skills among Year 2 Malaysian school children. While the gender effect was insignificant, low achieving students showed poorer reading fluency skills. The preliminary normative data for ORF and SRF provided by the present study are beneficial for future research applications.

Examining the underpinnings of loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials with positron emission tomography

Loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP) has long been considered to reflect central basal serotonin transmission. However, the relationship between LDAEP and individual serotonin receptors and transporters has not been fully explored in humans and may involve other neurotransmitter systems. To examine LDAEP's relationship with the serotonin system, we performed PET using serotonin-1A (5-HT_1A) imaging via [¹¹C]CUMI-101 and serotonin transporter (5-HTT) imaging via [¹¹C]DASB on a mixed sample of healthy controls (n ​= ​4: 4 females, 0 males), patients with unipolar (MDD, n ​= ​11: 4 females, 7 males) and bipolar depression (BD, n ​= ​8: 4 females, 4 males). On these same participants, we also performed electroencephalography (EEG) within a week of PET scanning, using 1000 ​Hz tones of varying intensity to evoke LDAEP. We then evaluated the relationship between LDAEP and 5-HT_1A or 5-HTT binding in both the raphe (5-HT_1A)/midbrain (5-HTT) areas and in the temporal cortex. We found that LDAEP was significantly correlated with 5-HT_1A positively and with 5-HTT negatively in the temporal cortex (p ​< ​0.05), but not correlated with either in midbrain or raphe. In males only, exploratory analysis showed multiple regions in which LDAEP significantly correlated with 5-HT_1A throughout the brain; we did not find this with 5-HTT. This multimodal study partially validates preclinical models of a serotonergic influence on LDAEP. Replication in larger samples is necessary to further clarify our understanding of the role of serotonin in perception of auditory tones.