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Neurobiology of Literacy and Reading Disorders

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Book cover The Frequency-Following Response

Part of the book series: Springer Handbook of Auditory Research ((SHAR,volume 61))

Abstract

Literacy acquisition is complex and multifactorial. Successful literacy acquisition places extreme demands on sensory and cognitive processes. Individuals with reading disorders demonstrate a range of linguistic, sensory, and cognitive deficits. In this chapter, the relationship between reading ability and the frequency-following response (FFR) is examined. The utility of the FFR in assessment of successful literacy and reading disorders is reviewed along with the use of FFR as an index of remediation. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of current issues and future directions regarding the utility of the FFR as an objective neural metric of deficits in literacy disorders. Throughout these sections the distinct cognitive, linguistic, and experiential influences on the FFR are highlighted to further demonstrate how the FFR to speech may serve as an auditory biomarker to predict literacy disorders.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01DC013315 (BC).

Compliance with Ethics Requirements

The authors, Rachel Reetzke, Zilong Xie, and Bharath Chandrasekaran, had no conflict of interest. Data represented in Fig. 10.1 was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health (Grant R01DC013315 to BC). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official view of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin, 2504A Whitis Avenue, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Rachel Reetzke & Zilong Xie

  2. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Psychology, Institute for Neuroscience, Center for Perceptual Systems, The University of Texas at Austin, 2504A Whitis Avenue, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Bharath Chandrasekaran

Authors
  1. Rachel Reetzke
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  2. Zilong Xie
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  3. Bharath Chandrasekaran
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bharath Chandrasekaran .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Nina Kraus

  2. Dept. of Hearing &Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Samira Anderson

  3. Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Travis White-Schwoch

  4. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard R. Fay

  5. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

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Reetzke, R., Xie, Z., Chandrasekaran, B. (2017). Neurobiology of Literacy and Reading Disorders. In: Kraus, N., Anderson, S., White-Schwoch, T., Fay, R., Popper, A. (eds) The Frequency-Following Response. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 61. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47944-6_10

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