Deficits in perception and production of vocal pitch are often observed in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the neural basis of these deficits is unknown. In magnetoencephalogram (MEG), spectrally complex periodic sounds trigger two continuous neural responses—the auditory steady state response (ASSR) and the sustained field (SF). It has been shown that the SF in neurotypical individuals is associated with low-level analysis of pitch in the ‘pitch processing center’ of the Heschl’s gyrus. Therefore, alternations in this auditory response may reflect atypical processing of vocal pitch. The SF, however, has never been studied in people with ASD. We used MEG and individual brain models to investigate the ASSR and SF evoked by monaural 40 Hz click trains in boys with ASD (N = 35) and neurotypical (NT) boys (N = 35) aged 7–12-years. In agreement with the previous research in adults, the cortical sources of the SF in children were located in the left and right Heschl’s gyri, anterolateral to those of the ASSR. In both groups, the SF and ASSR dominated in the right hemisphere and were higher in the hemisphere contralateral to the stimulated ear. The ASSR increased with age in both NT and ASD children and did not differ between the groups. The SF amplitude did not significantly change between the ages of 7 and 12 years. It was moderately attenuated in both hemispheres and was markedly delayed and displaced in the left hemisphere in boys with ASD. The SF delay in participants with ASD was present irrespective of their intelligence level and severity of autism symptoms. We did not test the language abilities of our participants. Therefore, the link between SF and processing of vocal pitch in children with ASD remains speculative. Children with ASD demonstrate atypical processing of spectrally complex periodic sound at the level of the core auditory cortex of the left-hemisphere. The observed neural deficit may contribute to speech perception difficulties experienced by children with ASD, including their poor perception and production of linguistic prosody.

中文翻译：

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ASD 儿童对周期性点击列车的持续神经磁反应中的左半球缺陷

在自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 患者中经常观察到声调感知和产生的缺陷，但这些缺陷的神经基础尚不清楚。在脑磁图 (MEG) 中，频谱复杂的周期性声音会触发两种连续的神经反应——听觉稳态反应 (ASSR) 和持续场 (SF)。已经表明，神经典型个体的 SF 与 Heschl 回的“音高处理中心”中的低水平音高分析有关。因此，这种听觉反应的变化可能反映了音调的非典型处理。然而，从未在 ASD 患者中研究过 SF。我们使用 MEG 和个体大脑模型来研究 7-12 岁的 ASD 男孩（N = 35）和神经典型（NT）男孩（N = 35）由单耳 40 Hz 咔哒声引起的 ASSR 和 SF。与先前对成人的研究一致，儿童 SF 的皮质来源位于左右 Heschl 回，在 ASSR 的前外侧。在两组中，SF 和 ASSR 在右半球占主导地位，在受刺激耳朵的对侧半球较高。NT 和 ASD 儿童的 ASSR 随着年龄的增长而增加，并且在各组之间没有差异。SF 振幅在 7 到 12 岁之间没有显着变化。它在两个半球中度减弱，在患有 ASD 的男孩的左半球显着延迟和移位。ASD 参与者的 SF 延迟存在，无论他们的智力水平和自闭症症状的严重程度如何。我们没有测试参与者的语言能力。所以，SF 与 ASD 儿童声调处理之间的联系仍然是推测性的。患有 ASD 的儿童在左半球的核心听觉皮层水平表现出对频谱复杂周期性声音的非典型处理。观察到的神经缺陷可能导致 ASD 儿童经历语言感知困难，包括他们的感知能力差和语言韵律的产生。