Lecture series “Between the ears”: Neuro-auditory Profile of Children and Adolescents with AD(H)D

On April 3 at 16:00 Dr Christine Groß from the Latvian Academy of Music will give a lecture on “Neuro-auditory Profile of Children and Adolescents with AD(H)D” as part of the “Between the Ears” lecture series.

The lecture will be held in English, in room 121, Näituse 2, Tartu and Zoom. All interested parties are welcome.

As an introduction to the lecture, Dr. Groß says the following:

Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder (AD(H)D) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in children and adolescents with up to 60% probability of prevailing into adulthood. An increasing body of literature points out the fact that AD(H)D has far-fetching, long term implications and impacts on various areas of the individual life, the society, the economy and the health care system. Comorbid disorders, such as oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, learning disabilities, anxiety disorder and depression are frequent in individuals with AD(H)D. AD(H)D is seen as a significant risk factor for developing cigarette-, alcohol- or drug-use disorders. At present, AD(H)D is mainly diagnosed on the basis of observable behavioral patterns which might lead to inconsistent diagnoses depending on the informants as well as the cultural background and traditions. This points out the importance of introducing objective biomarkers to support the diagnostic work-up of patients with AD(H)D.

So far, we found distinct neuroanatomical [via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)] and neurofunctional [via magnetoencephalography (MEG)] differences in the auditory cortex of children and adults with ADHD and ADD (Serrallach et al., 2022; Serrallach et al., 2016; Seither-Preisler et al., 2014). The mentioned neuroanatomical and -functional anomalies in the auditory cortex of patients with AD(H)D were also found to be associated with deficits in auditory processing and music performance (Groß et al., 2022; Serrallach et al., 2016). In addition, in children with AD(H)D it is already known that the P1 asynchrony is correlated with the severity of ADHD symptoms (Seither-Preisler et al., 2014). A longitudinal analysis revealed that a clear P1 asynchrony reduction can be found in musicians leading to an almost balanced pattern in young musicians while non-musicians showed a nearly unchanged asynchrony. The extent of this long-term synchronization was directly correlated to the amount of musical practice, whereby the benefits of musical training were considerably larger in the disorder group (including individuals with ADHD and ADD) than in the control group (Groß et al., 2022; Serrallach et al., 2016).

References:

Groß, C., Serrallach, B. L., Möhler, E., Pousson, J. E., Schneider, P., Christiner, M., & Bernhofs, V. (2022). Musical Performance in Adolescents with ADHD, ADD and Dyslexia—Behavioral and Neurophysiological Aspects. Brain Sciences, 12(2), 127.

Groß,Christine: Individuelles neuro-auditorisches Profil von Kindern mit ADHS, unv. Diss., Universität Heidelberg, 2020.

Serrallach, B., Groß, C., Bernhofs, V., Engelmann, D., Benner, J., Gündert, N., Blatow, M., Wengenroth, M., Seitz. A., Brunner, M., Seither, S., Parncutt, R., Schneider, P. & Seither- Preisler, A. (2016). Neural Biomarkers for Dyslexia, ADHD, and ADD in the Auditory Cortex of Children. Front. Neurosci.10, 324. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00324

Seither-Preisler, A., Parncutt, R. & Schneider, P. (2014). Size and synchronization of auditory cortex promotes musical, literacy, and attentional skills in children. J Neurosci 34(33), 10937–10949

Serrallach, B., Groß, C., Christiner, M., Wildermuth, S., Schneider, P. (2022). Neuromorphological and neurofunctional correlates of ADHD and ADD in the auditory cortex. Front. Neurosci. (accepted). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.850529.