To evaluate the feasibility of using the acoustic change complex (ACC) as an objective cortical marker of continuous speech sound discrimination using connected Ling-six stimuli.
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
The ACC with connected Ling-sound stimuli shows promise as an objective tool for assessing cortical speech discrimination, but clinical adoption should await replication and normative data; no immediate protocol change is warranted.
An objective, response-free measure of cortical speech-sound discrimination could improve assessment in populations unable to give reliable behavioural responses, such as infants or cognitively impaired adults.
- 01The acoustic change complex (ACC) was evaluated as an objective brain-wave marker for speech sound discrimination.
- 02Connected Ling-sound stimuli were used to simulate continuous speech more realistically than isolated sounds.
- 03Study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2026.1771785).
- 04Findings support the ACC's potential as a cortical-level, behavioural-response-free assessment tool.
- 05Clinical utility depends on further validation and the development of normative datasets.
The acoustic change complex can serve as an objective cortical marker for continuous speech sound discrimination.
studypartially supportedConnected Ling-sound stimuli are suitable for eliciting the ACC in a speech-discrimination paradigm.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42344509
- DOI
- 10.3389/fnhum.2026.1771785.
- Journal
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Adults undergoing cortical auditory evoked potential testing for speech sound discrimination
- Intervention
- Acoustic change complex (ACC) elicited with connected Ling-sound stimuli
Primary outcomes
Presence and reliability of ACC responses to connected Ling-sound stimuli; Objective discrimination of continuous speech sounds at the cortical level