Search Abstracts | Symposia | Slide Sessions | Poster Sessions
A narrative review of neural oscillations linked to auditory (phoneme) perception
Poster Session C, Saturday, September 13, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm, Field House
Valérie Windey1, Annelien Dorme1, Miet De Letter1; 1Ghent University
Time-frequency analysis (TFA) is a valuable method in electrophysiological research, as it captures the dynamic patterns of neural oscillations over time and across frequency bands. Unlike traditional ERP analyses, TFA reveals both evoked and induced brain activity, offering deeper insight into the temporal and spectral processes that underlie speech and language comprehension. Event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs) derived from TFA hold potential as biomarkers for identifying and understanding auditory and speech-language deficits. This narrative review explores which ERSPs are associated with auditory input processing in neurotypical adults and individuals with speech-language pathologies. The review focuses specifically on event-related spectral power within distinct frequency bands, distinguishing between two key auditory functions: auditory discrimination, the ability to detect differences between sounds, and auditory categorization, the grouping of similar sounds into meaningful speech categories. Additionally, the review examined the literature on how reliable the event-related spectral perturbations are within these frequency bands for the MMN and P300 effects elicited by tonal and linguistic stimuli, as analyzed through time-frequency methods in neurotypical adults. The electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase were searched for relevant studies from 18 until 25 November 2024. The main reasons for exclusion were populations or analyzing techniques beyond the scope of this review (e.g. no TFA, non-neurotypical population). In total, 17 studies were included in this narrative review. Most included studies examined oddball paradigms using tonal stimuli, as the relationship between the MMN component and specific frequency bands has not yet been studied in paradigms with phonemes. The review revealed that auditory discrimination is primarily associated with event-related spectral perturbations in the gamma and theta frequency bands. In contrast, attentive auditory categorization involves a broader range of frequency bands, with gamma, theta, alpha, beta and delta oscillations all contributing. Regarding reliability, the findings indicate that P300 amplitude showed moderate to excellent reliability, particularly for standard tones, with continuous EEG proving more reliable than evoked power. Longitudinal studies further suggest that these time-frequency dynamics remain stable. In conclusion, these findings enhance our understanding of the neural dynamics involved in auditory input processing. However, the field remains in its early stages, with limited research on the test-retest reliability of ERSPs, particularly in relation to the MMN and P300 components elicited by tonal and linguistic stimuli. Current evidence is largely restricted to neurotypical adults, leaving important gaps regarding clinical populations with speech-language pathologies. Future research should investigate phoneme-based paradigms and examine neural oscillations in individuals with speech-language disorders. Such work is essential for advancing theoretical models of auditory processing, refining diagnostic tools, and improving the evaluation of intervention outcomes in both research and clinical settings.
Topic Areas: Speech Perception, Methods