Evaluation of auditory attention and memory skills in autistic children after hyperbaric o2 treatment

Abstract

Introduction: The children with autism often exhibit abnormalities in auditory central processing including both auditory attention and auditory memory. Objective: The aim of this research was to determine the effectiveness of the hyperbaric oxygen therapy in improving auditory attention and auditory memory. Method: The study included 20 children with autism and 20 normally developed children as the control group. The children with autism were evaluated before and after treatment with hyperbaric oxygen using audirory P300 and MMN to evaluate both auditory attention and auditory memory. Results: There was a statistically significant difference of the auditory P300 and MMN latencies in the autistic children before and after treatment with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. There was a decrease of the P300 and MMN latencies, after the hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Conclusion: The children with autism showed improvement in both auditory attention and auditory memory after hyperbaric oxygen therapy.