Preliminary observations of binaural hearing in an attention-deficit pediatric population.

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials and middle latency auditory evoked potentials were recorded from 21 normal hearing children between 8 and 13 years of age. An age-matched control group of 13 children was used to compare the results of 8 children diagnosed with ADHD. One sample of 2000 averages was collected for right monaural, left monaural, and binaural stimulus presentation conditions. The binaural interaction component was then determined using the formula: [(right monaural+left monaural)--binaural]. Absolute latencies and amplitudes for waves V, N20, P30, and N40 were then compared using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and matched t-tests. Percent binaural interaction was also computed for both groups. Significant differences were noted between control and ADHD groups on measures of N40 amplitudes for binaural stimulation, N40 amplitude for the sum of the right and left monaural waveforms, and percent binaural interaction at N40. These results suggest a dysfunction or immaturity in the auditory activity of the thalmo-cortical projections.