The effect of stuttering remediation speech exercises on cortical auditory evoked potentials in school-age children with stuttering

Abstract Background Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) are proposed to be impaired in children with stuttering (CWS). This study aimed to investigate CAEPs, P1-N1 in children with stuttering (CWS) compared to children with no stuttering (CWNS). P1-N1 were also investigated for the effect of the integrative stuttering remediation approaches. Method The study included forty participants, aged 6–12 years. They were divided into two groups, CWS (29 males and 11 females) and CWNS (28 males and 12 females). P1 and N1 were measured in both groups during an active speech task. The severity of their stuttering symptoms was assessed using the Arabic stuttering severity instrument-3 and the Arabic version of the test of childhood stuttering. After an average period of 16 weeks of integrative stuttering remediation exercises, the stuttering symptoms and P1-N1 were reevaluated in CWS. Results There was no significant difference between both groups regarding the age and sex distribution. There was a highly significant suppression of P1-N1 during the active speech task in the CWNS group, contrary to the CWS group, with a p-value of less than 0.001. The P1 amplitude and the N1 latency were significantly correlated with the number of repetitions. Additionally, the latency of N1 showed a significant negative correlation with the stuttering severity index. Post-intervention assessment showed a significant decrease in the objective measures of stuttering severity and a significant suppression in the P1-N1 responses. Conclusion Our study proposes a maladaptive suppression of speech P1-N1 in CWS which improved after the integrative approach remediation exercises.