Abstract
Brain science shows that people who stutter（PWS）exhibit impairments in the auditory speech area of the left hemisphere. In our previous study, PWS had a low brain activity in the left auditory speech area associated with the right ear. For the present study, we hypothesized that left hemisphere dysfunction is caused by the auditory pathway. Our objective was to assess the auditory pathway of PWS using the auditory brainstem response（ABR）．The subjects were 13 adults who stutter（AWS） and 16 adults who were fluent. They underwent ABR evaluation, which comprised click and Japanese mora /da/, initially with the left ear and then with the right ear. Interpeak latencies（IPLs）were statistically analyzed using the two-way analysis of variance with two factors: the group and the left and right ears. As a result, for click ABR via the left ear, AWS with mild impairment exhibited significantly longer IPLs （I-V）than fluent subjects and AWS with moderate and severe impairment（p<.05）． For click ABR via the right ear, AWS with moderate and severe impairments exhibited significantly longer IPLs（I-V）than fluent subjects and AWS with mild impairment （p<.05）．Our data suggest that there are some problems in the auditory pathway of AWS. We consider that a slight delay in auditory information causes speech confusion.
