Development and Evaluation of the Italian Version of the Dichotic Digit Test: Insights from 39 Normal-Hearing Children Aged 11 to 13 years.

BACKGROUND The dichotic digit test (DDT) is one of the tests for the behavioral assessment of central auditory processing. Dichotic listening tests are sensitive ways of assessing cortical structures, the corpus callossum, and binaural integration mechanisms, showing strong correlations with learning difficulties. The DDT is presently available in a number of languages, each appropriate for the subject's native language. However, there is presently no test in the Italian language. The goal of this study was to develop an Italian version of the one-pair dichotic digit test (DDT-IT) and analyze results in 39 normal-hearing Italian children 11 to 13 years old. We used 2 conditions of presentation: free recall and directed attention (left or right ear), and looked at possible effects of sex and ear side. MATERIAL AND METHODS This study involved 3 steps: creation of the stimuli, checking their quality with Italian speakers, and assessment of the DDT-IT in our subject pool. The study involved 39 children (26 girls and 13 boys), aged 11-13 years. All participants underwent basic audiological assessment, auditory brainstem response, and then DDT-IT. RESULTS Results under free recall and directed attention conditions were similar for right and left ears, and there were no sex or age effects. CONCLUSIONS The Italian version of DDT (DDT-IT) has been developed and its performance on 39 normal-hearing Italian children was assessed. We found there were no age or sex effects for either the free recall condition or the directed attention condition.

AudBility: Effectiveness of an online central auditory processing screening program.

OBJECTIVE: To contribute to the validation of AudBility, an online central auditory processing screening program, considering the tasks for age between 6 and 8 years-old, from the investigation of sensitivity and specificity, as well as to suggest a minimum central auditory processing (CAP) screening protocol in this age group. METHOD: In the first stage of the study, 154 schoolchildren were screened. Children were aged between 6 and 8 years old, native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. The auditory tasks of AudBility analyzed in this study were: sound localization (SL), auditory closure (AC), figure-ground (FG), dichotic digits-binaural integration (DD), temporal resolution (TR) and temporal frequency ordering (TO-F). In the second stage, 112 children attended to CAP assessment in the institution's laboratory. The calculation of efficacy (sensitivity/specificity) was obtained through the construction of the ROC curve for the tests with more than five children altered in the diagnosis. RESULTS: For the 6-7-year-old age group the accuracy values were: AC (76.9%); FG (61.6%); DD 78.8% for the right ear and 84.4% for the left ear in females and 63.2% for the left ear in males; TR (77.1%) and TO-F (74.4% for the right ear and 82.4% for the left ear). For the 8-year-old age group the values were: FF (76.5%); DD (71.7% for the left ear for females and 77% for the right ear for males); TR (56.5%) and TO-F (54.1% for the right ear and 70% for the left ear). CONCLUSIONS: AudBility showed variations in sensitivity and specificity values between the auditory tasks and age groups, with better effectiveness in schoolchildren between the ages of 6 and 7 than eight-year-olds, except for the FG task. For screening purposes, the application of the protocol involving five tasks for the 6 to 7-year-olds group and with four tasks for the 8-year-olds group is suggested.

Masking Level Difference: Performance of School Children Aged 7-12 Years.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In masking level difference (MLD), the masked detection threshold for a signal is determined as a function of the relative interaural differences between the signal and the masker. Study 1 analyzed the results of school-aged children with good school performance in the MLD test, and study 2 compared their results with those of a group of children with poor academic performance. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Study 1 was conducted with 47 school-aged children with good academic performance (GI) and study 2 was carried out with 32 school-aged children with poor academic performance (GII). The inclusion criteria adopted for both studies were hearing thresholds within normal limits in basic audiological evaluation. Study 1 also considered normal performance in the central auditory processing test battery and absence of auditory complaints and/or of attention, language or speech issues. The MLD test was administered with a pure pulsatile tone of 500 Hz, in a binaural mode and intensity of 50 dBSL, using a CD player and audiometer. RESULTS: In study 1, no significant correlation was observed, considering the influence of the variables age and sex in relation to the results obtained in homophase (SoNo), antiphase (SπNo) and MLD threshold conditions. The final mean MLD threshold was 13.66 dB. In study 2, the variables did not influence the test performance either. There was a significant difference between test results in SπNo conditions of the two groups, while no differences were found both in SoNo conditions and the final result of MLD. CONCLUSIONS: In study 1, the cut-off criterion of school-aged children in the MLD test was 9.3 dB. The variables (sex and age) did not interfere with the MLD results. In study 2, school performance did not differ in the MLD results. GII group showed inferior results than GI group, only in SπNo condition.

Evaluation of speech in noise abilities in school children.

This study aimed to analyze the perception of speech in noise in children with poor school performance and to compare them with children with good school performance, considering gender, age and ear side as variables. The intelligibility of speech was evaluated in school children utilizing the Brazilian Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) in the situations of quiet (Q), Left ear competitive noise (NL), Right Ear Competitive Noise (NR), as well as the global average of other hearing situations, denominated Noise Composite (NC). Ninety seven school children between the ages of 8 and 10 were recruited in five schools of São Paulo-Brazil; the control group (CG) consisted of 54 students (23 male/ 31 female) without language and/or speech difficulties and good school performance, and the study group (SG) consisted of 43 students (28 male/ 15 female) identified by their teachers as having poor school performance. The variables gender and ear side did not interfere in speech perception. The age variable influenced only the CG. The SG had worse performance than the CG in the Q, NF and NC conditions. NF was the most difficult for both groups. The perception of speech in noise was the worst in children with poor school performance. The variables gender and ear side did not interfere in speech perception. The age group variable influenced the performance of the group of children with good school performance, demonstrating a better ability in older children. The speech perception in noise ability is more difficult for both groups when the noise affects both ears.