Audiologic and electrophysiologic evaluation in children with psychiatric disorders

Individuals with psychiatric disorders can present perception, attention and memory deficits, raising doubts about peripheral and/or central hearing loss. Thus, the aim of this study is to describe the audiological and electrophysiological results of individuals with psychiatric disorders, looking for peripheral and/or central auditory disorders. Methods: 20 individuals with autism and Asperger syndrome and 20 individuals without psychiatric disorders from eight to 19 years of age, were submitted to audiological and electrophysiological evaluation. Results: No alterations were observed on the audiological evaluation in all the individuals. In ABR, 50% of individuals with autism and 30% with Asperger syndrome presented alterations. Significant statistical differences were observed between the groups in the quantitative analysis. All groups presented alterations in AMLR and P300. In AMLR, no significant statistical differences were observed between the groups in the qualitative and quantitative analyses. In the P300, we noticed significant statistical differences between Asperger and control groups in the quantitative analysis. Conclusions: A high occurrence of alterations in auditory evoked potentials was seen in children with psychiatric disorders, although in some analysis it was observed a non-statistically significant difference when comparing study and control groups. We stress the need for a more careful investigation of the auditory function in this population.