From a neurophysiological viewpoint a hypothesis for the etiology of early infantile autism suggests that the symptoms are a result of abnormalities in processing sensory input at the level of the brain-stem. The methods for recording auditory evoked responses (BAERs) seemed particularly well suited to study a failure at this level. BAERs to brief monaural and binaural stimulation were studied in 17 autistic children ranging in age from 3 to 9 years (mean = 6.1). They were age and sex matched to normal controls. Electrodes were placed at the vertex and at the mastoid ipsilateral to the stimulation. Signals were amplified 10(5) using an amplifier with bandpass filters set at 160 Hz and 3 kHz. Stimuli were clicks (120 microsec) delivered to subjects through earphones at 2 intensities: 70 and 90 dB. Stimuli were presented in blocks of 3000 clicks (1500 clicks for each intensity) with a rate of 10/sec. No sedative medication was used. There was no difference between autistic and normal children for the latencies of peak I. Latencies of peaks II, III, IV and V were found to be shorter in autistic than in normal children. The I-II and II-III interpeak transmission times were significantly decreased in the autistic group, but not III-V interpeak transmission time. Autistic children showed V-VN amplitude greater than normal children. Our findings suggest that in the autistic syndrome, there is a defect of the modulation processing input related to intensity at brain-stem level.