No Differences in Auditory Steady-State Responses in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Children

Auditory steady-state response (ASSR) has been studied as a potential biomarker for abnormal auditory sensory processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with mixed results. Motivated by prior somatosensory findings of group differences in inter-trial coherence (ITC) between ASD and typically developing (TD) individuals at twice the steady-state stimulation frequency, we examined ASSR at 25 and 50 as well as 43 and 86 Hz in response to 25-Hz and 43-Hz auditory stimuli, respectively, using magnetoencephalography. Data were recorded from 22 ASD and 31 TD children, ages 6-17 years. ITC measures showed prominent ASSRs at the stimulation and double frequencies, without significant group differences. These results do not support ASSR as a robust ASD biomarker of abnormal auditory processing in ASD. Furthermore, the previously observed atypical double-frequency somatosensory response in ASD did not generalize to the auditory modality. Thus, the hypothesis about modality-independent abnormal local connectivity in ASD was not supported.

Automated summary

This study investigated the auditory steady-state response (ASSR) as a biomarker for abnormal auditory processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The findings showed no significant differences in ASSR between ASD and typically developing (TD) children, suggesting that ASSR is not a reliable biomarker for abnormal auditory processing in ASD. Additionally, the previously observed atypical double-frequency somatosensory response in ASD did not apply to the auditory modality, indicating that abnormal local connectivity in ASD may not be modality-independent.