Background: Problems with attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are the main features of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. Among children with ADHD, delayed language development is a very common co-morbidity.
Objectives: To study if there were deficits in auditory brain stem response to speech stimuli in children with attention deficit hyperactive disorder.
Methodology: This study was conducted on 22 children diagnosed as having ADHD by fulfilling the criteria of DSM-V and 10 children (as control group) with DLD not fulfilling criteria of ADHD by of DSM-V. All patients were evaluated using Intelligent Quotient (IQ), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Test. Participants in the study who had hearing impairments were excluded. Ear examination was done. Audiological examination was done, Tympanometry, Click evoked Auditory Brainstem Response and Speech Evoked Auditory Brainstem Response (S-ABR) were done in the Sohag audiology unit for all the children.
Results: There was high statistically significant difference between the two groups in the latencies of wave V, A. A significant shift in the latency of wave D was observed. Also, there was high statistically significant correlation between the degree of ADHD and the latency of wave V. A significant correlation between the degree and latency of wave A, C and O.
Conclusion: Children with ADHD showed abnormal speech processing at the level of the brain stem. The more the degree of ADHD the more affection occurs on the latency of S-ABR.