Correlating performance on the Listening in Spatialised Noise - Sentences test (LiSN-S) with the Listening in Spatialised Noise - Universal test (LiSN-U).

Objective: The aim of this study was to correlate 6- to 7-year-old children's results on each condition of the Listening in Spatialised Noise - Sentences test (LiSN-S) with the new language-independent version, the Listening in Spatialised Noise - Universal test (LiSN-U), to examine the strength of the relationship between them and with memory in a small sample of typically developing children.Design: Correlational analysis.Study samples: Sixteen typically developing 6- to 7-year-old children completed the LiSN-S and LiSN-U as well as the Test of Auditory Processing Skills - Third Edition (TAPS-3) number memory forward and reversed subtests which assess short-term memory and working memory, respectively.Results: Moderate positive correlations were found between LiSN-S and LiSN-U spatially separated conditions (though this did not reach significance), and co-located conditions. Correlations between the LiSN-S and LiSN-U conditions and number memory forward and reversed subtests were not significant.Conclusion: This study shows a moderate relationship between the LiSN-S and LiSN-U when the distractors and target speech are co-located. A study with a larger sample of participants is needed to further understand the relationship between the two tests, especially for the spatially separated condition.

Detection of hearing problems in Aboriginal and Torres strait islander children: a comparison between clinician-administered and self-administrated hearing tests.

Objective: This study evaluated the agreement of self-administered tests with clinician-administered tests in detecting hearing loss and speech-in-noise deficits in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children.Design: Children completed clinician-administered audiometry, self-administered automatic audiometry (AutoAud), clinician-administered Listening in Spatialised Noise - Sentences test and self-administered tablet-based hearing game Sound Scouts. Comparisons were made between tests to determine the agreement of the self-administered tests with clinician-administered tests in detecting hearing loss and speech-in-noise deficits.Study sample: Two hundred and ninety seven Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 4-14 years from three schools.Results: Acceptable threshold differences of ≤5 dB between AutoAud and manual audiometry hearing thresholds were found for 88% of thresholds, with a greater agreement for older than for younger children. Consistent pass/fail results on the Sound Scouts speech-in-quiet measure and manual audiometry were found for 81% of children. Consistent pass/fail results on the Sound Scouts speech-in-noise measure and LiSN-S high-cue condition were found for 73% of children.Conclusions: This study shows good potential in using self-administered applications as initial tests for hearing problems in children. These tools may be especially valuable for children in remote locations and those from low socio-economic backgrounds who may not have easy access to healthcare.

Factors affecting the Mandarin dichotic digits test.

Objective: Data with regard to the Mandarin dichotic digits test (DDT) are limited, with conflicting results reported between the Mandarin and English DDTs. The current study examined factors that might affect the performance in the Mandarin DDT. Design: The digits were arranged in 3 sets of 20 dichotic pairs; each set comprised 2, 3 or 4 digits in a pair. Study sample: Forty-one young, native Mandarin speakers with normal hearing were tested; 30 of them were right-handed and 11 left-handed. Six participants repeated the test. Results: The prevalence of ceiling effect in recognition score decreased systematically as the digit-pair length increased. At digit sets of 3-pair and 4-pair, the right-handed group showed a significant higher recognition score at right ear than left ear, while the left-handed group reversed the performance. The score difference between ears is significantly different between the right- and left-handed groups. The retest of the Mandarin DDT was reliable. Conclusions: For the right-handed group, a right-ear advantage can exist in the Mandarin DDT at a longer digit-pair length, similar to what was reported in the English DDT. Moreover, for the left-handed group, the attended right hemisphere in processing the tonal digits can result in a left-ear advantage.

Desenvolvimento do teste Listas de Sentenças Dicóticas em Português Brasileiro / Development of the Brazilian Portuguese Dichotic Sentence List Test

RESUMO Objetivo Desenvolver o teste Listas de Sentenças Dicóticas em Português Brasileiro, verificar sua aplicabilidade e propor um protocolo de aplicação para avaliação do processamento auditivo. Métodos As listas de frases foram extraídas do material original, submetidas a uma análise criteriosa e ao processo de adaptação, para compor o novo teste. Para formar pares de frases com duração mais aproximada possível, foi analisado estatisticamente o tempo de duração de cada sentença, dentro de uma mesma lista e entre listas. Estas foram combinadas em ordem crescente de duração, dentro de cada lista, e realizadas as combinações das listas entre si, de acordo com a duração das sentenças, gerando 42 conjuntos distintos de listas. Em seguida, o teste foi aplicado em 42 indivíduos normo-ouvintes. Os indivíduos foram instruídos sobre a forma de resposta, devendo repetir, inicialmente, as sentenças de ambas as orelhas (atenção dividida entre orelha direita e esquerda), em seguida, as frases da orelha direita (atenção direcionada para a orelha direita) e, finalmente, as da orelha esquerda (atenção direcionada para a orelha esquerda). Resultados O novo material ficou composto da seguinte forma: faixa 1, tom puro de calibração; faixa 2, lista 1A modificada e faixas 3 a 44, as 42 possibilidades de combinação entre as listas. Após a realização do teste, foi sugerido um protocolo de aplicação. Conclusão O teste Listas de Sentenças Dicóticas em Português Brasileiro mostrou-se um instrumento passível de ser utilizado em adultos e, sendo assim, foi proposto um protocolo com duas diferentes combinações de listas e sequências de apresentação, para avaliação do processamento auditivo.

ABSTRACT Purpose To develop Brazilian Portuguese Dichotic Sentence List Test, check its applicability and propose an application protocol for auditory processing assessment. Methods The lists of sentences were taken from the original material, analyzed in detailed and adapted to form the new test. To compose pairs of sentences with as much of the same duration as possible, the duration of each sentence was statistically analyzed within the same list and among lists. The lists were combined in increasing order of length, within each list; and combinations of the lists were formed according to the length of sentences, resulting in 42 different sets of lists. Then, the test was performed with 42 normal hearing individuals. Individuals were instructed on how to answer: initially, they should repeat the sentences presented to both ears (attention divided between the right and the left ears). Then, the steps for the right ear phrases (attention directed to the right ear), and finally for the left ear (attention directed to the left ear) were performed. Results The new material was composed as follows: track 1, pure tone calibration; track 2, modified 1A list; and tracks 3 to 44, the 42 possible combinations among the lists. After the test was applied, an application protocol was suggested. Conclusion The Brazilian Portuguese Dichotic Sentence List Test was developed and proved to be an instrument that can be used in adults. Therefore, a protocol was proposed with two different combinations of lists and presentation sequence for auditory processing assessment.

The right planum temporale is involved in stimulus-driven, auditory attention--evidence from transcranial magnetic stimulation.

It is well known that the planum temporale (PT) area in the posterior temporal lobe carries out spectro-temporal analysis of auditory stimuli, which is crucial for speech, for example. There are suggestions that the PT is also involved in auditory attention, specifically in the discrimination and selection of stimuli from the left and right ear. However, direct evidence is missing so far. To examine the role of the PT in auditory attention we asked fourteen participants to complete the Bergen Dichotic Listening Test. In this test two different consonant-vowel syllables (e.g., "ba" and "da") are presented simultaneously, one to each ear, and participants are asked to verbally report the syllable they heard best or most clearly. Thus attentional selection of a syllable is stimulus-driven. Each participant completed the test three times: after their left and right PT (located with anatomical brain scans) had been stimulated with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which transiently interferes with normal brain functioning in the stimulated sites, and after sham stimulation, where participants were led to believe they had been stimulated but no rTMS was applied (control). After sham stimulation the typical right ear advantage emerged, that is, participants reported relatively more right than left ear syllables, reflecting a left-hemispheric dominance for language. rTMS over the right but not left PT significantly reduced the right ear advantage. This was the result of participants reporting more left and fewer right ear syllables after right PT stimulation, suggesting there was a leftward shift in stimulus selection. Taken together, our findings point to a new function of the PT in addition to auditory perception: particularly the right PT is involved in stimulus selection and (stimulus-driven), auditory attention.

[CAPD in 2nd-graders of primary schools: which tests discriminate normal from impaired children?]. / AVWS bei Regelschülern im 2. Schuljahr: Welche Tests trennen auffällige von unauffälligen Kindern?

BACKGROUND: Third- and fourth-graders with (C)APD can be differentiated from non-(C)APD children at best by means of 3 diagnostic tests (Nickisch & Kiese-Himmel, 2009). Now it should be examined which tests discriminate second graders with (C)APD from those without. MATERIAL UND METHODS: 10 audiological and psychometrical tests were used for this purpose. PATIENTS: 33 second-graders of primary schools diagnosed with auditory-specific perceptual deficits (clinical group (C)APD: average age: 7.8; SD 0.7 years) were compared to 48 normally developed children of the same school grade (control group Non-(C)APD: average age: 7.6; SD 0.5 years). RESULTS: With the exception of 3 non-language based tests significant group-differentiations appeared, with the (C)APD-children displaying worse results. The diagnostic classification succeeded in the following test-combination: Word-Understanding in Background Noise (Goettinger Sprachaudiometrie im Freifeld), Dichotic Listening (Uttenweiler Test), Numerical Sequence Memory (Subtest of the German version of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities), Nonword Repetition (Mottier-Test). 97.5% of all children were assigned to the correct diagnostic group (96.3% after cross-validation). CONCLUSION: After the exclusion of neurological disorders, peripheral hearing-disorders as well as intelligence-impairments the diagnostic assurance of (C)APD of second-graders succeeded, permitting very small probability of error. Compared to the preliminary study, an additional diagnostic test on second-graders is necessary; classification, as a result, will be more precise.

Auditory evoked potentials of adults who do or do not show a significant right ear advantage in dichotic listening.

The Halwes Fused Dichotic Words Test was used to divide a sample of university students into a group having a statistically significant right ear advantage (REA) and a group having either a significant left ear advantage or a non-significant ear asymmetry (NREA). Of these participants, 30 (14 REA, 16 NREA) had electrical potentials measured from temporal, central, and frontal sites as series of brief tones were presented monaurally. No behavioural response was required. Group differences were found in the latency but not the amplitude of the averaged event-related responses. The REA group showed faster conduction to the right hemisphere than to the left hemisphere. In both groups the amplitude of left hemisphere responses was greater for right ear stimulation than for left ear stimulation. The results for amplitude indicate that the crossed auditory pathway is a superior conductor of information to the left hemisphere but not to the right hemisphere. Group differences, however, are related only to the speed with which information reaches the right hemisphere.

Hemispheric specialization for linguistic processing of sung speech.

The two hemispheres of the brain play complementary roles in song perception, with the left hemisphere specialized for processing the linguistic aspects of song and the right hemisphere specialized for the processing of melody. However, very little is known about how language and melody interact. The present study tested the hypothesis that right hemisphere linguistic processing would be facilitated by the presence of melody. In a dichotic listening paradigm, participants (8 men, 43 women) performed a linguistic task while listening to spoken or sung speech. Contrary to the hypothesis, left hemisphere specialization for linguistic processing was identical whether the sentences were spoken or sung.

The effects of background noise on dichotic listening to consonant-vowel syllables.

Lateralization of verbal processing is frequently studied with the dichotic listening technique, yielding a so called right ear advantage (REA) to consonant-vowel (CV) syllables. However, little is known about how background noise affects the REA. To address this issue, we presented CV-syllables either in silence or with traffic background noise vs. 'babble'. Both 'babble' and traffic noise resulted in a smaller REA compared to the silent condition. The traffic noise, moreover, had a significantly greater negative effect on the REA than the 'babble', caused both by a decreased right ear response as well as an increased left ear response. The results are discussed in terms of alertness and attentional factors.

Left hemisphere specialization for duration discrimination of musical and speech sounds.

Hemispheric asymmetries for processing duration of non-verbal and verbal sounds were investigated in 60 right-handed subjects. Two dichotic tests with attention directed to one ear were used, one with complex tones and one with consonant-vowel syllables. Stimuli had three possible durations: 350, 500, and 650 ms. Subjects judged whether the duration of a probe was same or different compared to the duration of the target presented before it. Target and probe were part of two dichotic pairs presented with 1s interstimulus interval and occurred on the same side. Dependent variables were reaction time and accuracy. Results showed a significant right ear advantage for both dependent variables with both complex tones and consonant-vowel syllables. This study provides behavioural evidence of a left hemisphere specialization for duration perception of both musical and speech sounds in line with the current view based on a parameter--rather than domain-specific structuring of hemispheric perceptual asymmetries.

Auditory rehabilitation for interaural asymmetry: preliminary evidence of improved dichotic listening performance following intensive training.

Children with dichotic left ear deficits received intensive training in phase I and phase II clinical trials designed to establish the efficacy of directly training dichotic listening. Dichotic verbal material was presented in the sound field with intensity adjusted separately for each speaker. Output from the right-sided speaker was initially 20-30 db HL lower than for the left-sided speaker, resulting in excellent performance in the left ear. Intensities were adaptively adjusted throughout training in 1, 2, and 5-dB steps in order to keep performance high across dichotic tasks. In both phase I (n=8) and phase II (n=13) trials, children demonstrated significant gains in dichotic left ear performance after training. In phase II, children also demonstrated significant gains in right ear performance. Overall results from the two trials support the feasibility of this training approach for improving a larger than normal interaural asymmetry on dichotic listening tasks. Significant improvements in language comprehension and word recognition in phase II suggest that this type of training may also facilitate language skills in some children.

Differential attention effects on dichotic listening.

The role of attention in the differentiation of auditory processing disorders from attention deficit disorders is gaining considerable interest in both the clinical and research arenas. It has been well established that when attention is directed to one ear or the other on traditional dichotic tests, performance can be altered. However, preliminary studies in our laboratory have shown that dichotic fusion paradigms are resistant to shifts in ear performance associated with changes in attention. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of normal listeners on a dichotic consonant-vowel and a dichotic rhyme (fusion) test. Both test procedures were administered to 20 young adults in three different listening conditions (free recall, attention directed to the left ear, and attention directed to the right ear). Results from this study supported the hypothesis that dichotic rhyme tests are resistant to alterations in the laterality of attention and have implications for the development of test paradigms that can be used to segregate attention from pure auditory deficits in the clinical domain.

Verbal memory in schizophrenia: additional evidence of subtypes having different cognitive deficits.

A prior study found a selective deficit in verbal working memory in a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia who performed as well as healthy controls on a screening test of attention and auditory perception [Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 55 (1998) 1093]. Given the importance of defining pathophysiologically distinct subtypes of schizophrenia, the present study aimed to replicate and extend this finding. Patients with schizophrenia who passed the screening test (discriminators or Dsz patients) were compared to those who did not (nondiscriminators, NDsz patients), and healthy controls on a word serial position test (WSPT) and on other tests of verbal and nonverbal cognitive function. Dsz patients performed more poorly than controls on the WSPT and showed serial position effects consistent with a verbal memory deficit. They also showed a deficit in verbal memory but not visual memory on the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised. In contrast, the NDsz patients showed overall poor performance on both verbal and nonverbal tests, consistent with a generalized deficit. Verbal working memory deficits were not related to education, gender, severity of symptoms, medication status, or hemispheric dominance for perceiving dichotic words. The findings add to growing evidence for the existence of a subgroup of schizophrenia having a specific verbal memory deficit that is not limited to working memory, but extends to learning and recall of verbal material.

Reliability of laterality effects in a dichotic listening task with words and syllables.

Large and reliable laterality effects have been found using a dichotic target detection task in a recent experiment using word stimuli pronounced with an emotional component. The present study tested the hypothesis that the magnitude and reliability of the laterality effects would increase with the removal of the emotional component and variations in word frequency. Thirty-two participants completed both a dichotic syllable detection task and a dichotic word detection task. In both tasks, stimuli were pronounced in a neutral tone of voice. Each task was completed twice to allow the estimation of test-retest reliability. Results failed to confirm the hypothesis since they were generally similar to those obtained in the previous study. A significant right ear advantage (REA) was found only with the word task. Although no ear advantage was found for the syllable task, somewhat better reliability was demonstrated compared to that obtained with words. The present findings suggest that including an emotional component does not reduce the reliability or magnitude of auditory laterality effects. In fact, the emotional component may have forced participants to focus on the language aspects of the stimuli. This might partly account for the reduced reliability in words and the absence of REA in syllables. Motivational factors inherent to the within-subject design used here are also discussed.

Establishing normal hearing with the dichotic multiple-frequency auditory steady-state response compared to an auditory brainstem response protocol.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical usefulness of the dichotic multiple-frequency (MF) auditory steady-state response (ASSR) technique for estimating normal hearing compared to a 0.5-kHz tone burst and broadband click auditory brainstem response (ABR) protocol in a sample of adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A comparative experimental research design was selected in order to compare estimations of normal hearing obtained with the dichotic ASSR technique at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz with a 0.5-kHz tone burst and broadband click ABR protocol. The recording times required for each procedure were also compared. Normal-hearing subjects (n = 28) were selected according to immittance values within normal limits and pure-tone behavioural thresholds of < 25 dB HL across frequencies. RESULTS: The dichotic MF ASSR estimated normal hearing to be, on average, 30-34 dB HL across the range 0.5-4 kHz. The mean estimate of normal hearing for 0.5 kHz using tone burst ABRs was 30 dB nHL and the mean click ABR threshold was 16 dB nHL, i.e. 14-18 dB better than the ASSR thresholds. The dichotic MFASSR technique recorded 8 thresholds (4 in each ear) in a mean time of 23 min. The ABR protocol recorded 4 thresholds (2 in each ear) in a mean time of 25 min. CONCLUSION: Both the dichotic MF ASSR and ABR protocols provided a time-efficient estimation of normal hearing. There was no significant difference between the tone burst ABR and MF ASSR techniques in terms of estimation of normal hearing at 0.5 kHz. The dichotic MF ASSR technique proved more time-efficient by determining more thresholds in a shorter time compared to the ABR protocol.

[Audiologic diagnosis in children. Applicability of different speech material]. / Audiologische Diagnostik bei Kindern. Verwendbarkeit von unterschiedlichem Sprachmaterial.

The aim of our study was to establish bench-mark values for speech intelligibility in noise for children. We also considered which of the two dichotic discrimination tests, Feldmann's or Uttenweiler's, would be most suitable for use within this age group. We examined 102 children aged between 7 and 10 years (second year, primary school), with an average age of 8 years. After confirming normal hearing acuity (examination of the ear, tympanometry and audiogram), speech perception was tested. This was performed with and without noise using the Göttingen Audiometric Speech Test for Children II and the monosyllables of the Freiburger Speech Intelligibility Test. The percentage of word intelligibility was recorded. Furthermore, dichotic hearing was tested using a combination of Feldmann and Uttenweiler dichotic discrimination tests. We rated the percentage of correct word pair repetitions with the correct article. The results showed that the best method for testing speech perception in noise for this age group was the Göttingen Test II for Children. Speech perception below 70% for word intelligibility should be considered as pathologic. For testing dichotic hearing, Uttenweiler's dichotic discrimination test for children was most suitable. In this test values below 80% should be considered as pathologic.

[On the diagnostics of structural deficits in dyslexia in clinical work: relationship between different achievement indicators]. / Zur Diagnostik struktureller Defizite bei Lese-Rechtschreib-Störungen in der klinischen Arbeit: Beziehungen zwischen verschiedenen Leistungsindikatoren.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study is to research the relationship between different indicators used in the diagnosis of reading and writing disabilities in clinical work. METHODS: In addition to being tested for intelligence and writing ability, a total of 141 children in second and fourth grade were submitted to tests assessing their ability for speech intelligibility in noise, dichotic listening, phoneme discrimination, as well as auditory short-term memory for digits and non-words. In a partial sample of 40 children with average intelligence manifesting at least a standard deviation between their ability to write and their IQ a regression analysis was introduced to assess the predictive power of applied indicators for writing ability. RESULTS: Next to IQ testing, phoneme analysis as used in the Heidelberg Test of Phoneme Discrimination accorded for the variance in writing ability. However, the relationship between these indicators proved to be most important for the beginning of learning the written language. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnostic procedures used in clinical work are critically evaluated whereby the tests to assess speech intelligibility in noise and dichotic listening, as well as short-term memory appear to be clinically relevant too, however a standardized procedure and age-relevant norms are still needed.

Non-invasive regime for language lateralization in right- and left-handers by means of functional MRI and dichotic listening.

Language lateralization was assessed by two independent functional techniques, fMRI and a dichotic listening test (DLT), in an attempt to establish a reliable and non-invasive protocol of dominance determination. This should particularly address the high intraindividual variability of language lateralization and allow decision-making in individual cases. Functional MRI of word classification tasks showed robust language lateralization in 17 right-handers and 17 left-handers in terms of activation in the inferior frontal gyrus. The DLT was introduced as a complementary tool to MR mapping for language dominance assessment, providing information on perceptual language processing located in superior temporal cortices. The overall agreement of lateralization assessment between the two techniques was 97.1%. Conflicting results were found in one subject, and diverging indices in ten further subjects. Increasing age, non-familial sinistrality, and a non-dominant writing hand were identified as the main factors explaining the observed mismatch between the two techniques. This finding stresses the concept of an intrahemispheric distribution of language function that is obviously associated with certain behavioral characteristics.

Perceptual asymmetries in schizophrenia: subtype differences in left hemisphere dominance for dichotic fused words.

OBJECTIVE: Dichotic listening techniques have been used to study hemispheric dominance for language in schizophrenia. The authors' goal was to compare subjects with paranoid and undifferentiated subtypes of schizophrenia. METHOD: The Fused Rhymed Words Test was used to compare perceptual asymmetries in 16 patients with paranoid schizophrenia, 28 patients with undifferentiated schizophrenia, and 29 healthy comparison subjects. RESULTS: Patients with paranoid schizophrenia had the largest left hemisphere advantage and patients with undifferentiated schizophrenia had the smallest. The asymmetry of healthy subjects was intermediate. Hemisphere advantage varied as a function of gender only in the patients with undifferentiated schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the hypotheses that undifferentiated schizophrenia is associated with underactivation of left hemisphere resources for verbal processing and that paranoid schizophrenia is characterized by preserved left hemisphere processing.