2026 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 15-17, 2026 • Jacksonville, FL
3/09/2025 | 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM | cABR/FFR: The Science Behind Reading | 304/305
cABR/FFR: The Science Behind Reading
Beyond the newborn hearing screening, an alarming number of children with auditory-cognitive disorders are being overlooked, misdiagnosed, and left behind. As schools deal with epidemic numbers of children with reading delays, the advocates of the science of reading movement are making little headway. Hope may lie in the proper identification, diagnosis, classification, and deficit-targeted intervention of auditory-cognitive disorders in young children.
The complex auditory brainstem response (cABR), also known as the frequency following response (FFR), provides valuable insights into the integrity of neuroscience biomarkers along the auditory pathway. By capturing synchronous, phase-locked neural activity in response to periodic sounds, such as speech, cABR/FFR can help assess auditory processing issues. It reflects the brain’s efficiency in encoding speech sounds and can be disrupted in various speech and language disorders, serving as an early indicator of potential literacy impairments.
This non-invasive auditory evoked procedure can be obtained on individuals of all ages throughout their lifespan, including very young children and infants. Abnormal FFRs in newborns could flag a later language impairment allowing early preventive measures from the first days of life.
Although research and technology for obtaining and analyzing cABR/FFR in children are available, few clinicians currently take advantage of these opportunities. There is a significant gap in clinicians' understanding of its analytical and transformative potential. This 4-hour intermediate-level workshop is designed to explore the extensive clinical applications of cABR/FFR, including how to record the response and analyze the data. The final hour will be dedicated to demonstrating the recording of the response on a 'patient' and analyzing the results.
- Participants will learn about data collection parameters and how to record cABR/FFR responses.
- Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to analyze cABR data and appreciate why audiologists are ideally suited to perform these tests.
- Participants will explore the vast potential of cABR/FFR as a neurobiomarker for understanding how the brain encodes sound.
Presentation:
3545975_18077Jacqueline R.Scholl.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Jacqueline R. Scholl
(Primary Presenter), SOUNDWRX Inc., n2earz@yahoo.com;
Dr Jacqueline R. Scholl serves as Executive Director for Sounwrx Inc, a 501(c)(3) organization. Previously Scholl was the founder and manager of The Scholl Center where she curated an impressive team of clinicians who changed the landscape for audiological, speech and balance care in Oklahoma.
The Scholl Center was the recipient of numerous awards, and she personally continues to be noticed for her standards of exemplary care, advocacy, innovative solutions, passion, and mass-scale policy change.
Scholl has practiced hearing health care for 25 years and after selling her practice in 2019, she continues to blaze trails by changing policy and providing best practice services to children across the state of Oklahoma. She is a tireless advocate for the voiceless and has contributed numerous articles for national publications and frequently speaks at conferences.
Scholl has been recognized nationally for exemplary practice as a clinician by being awarded Oticon’s Practitioner of the Year Award, along with The American Doctor’s of Audiology prestigious Leo Doerfler career award for demonstrating outstanding clinical services in the community. She tirelessly works to create policy change for the voiceless.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.