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A Multimodal Imaging- and Stimulation-based Method of Evaluating Connectivity-related Brain Excitability in Patients with Epilepsy
Published on: November 13, 2016
Nonverbal dichotic test in patients with epilepsy
Karin Zazo Ortiz1, Liliane Desgualdo Pereira2, Alda Christina Lopes de Carvalho Borges2
1PhD in Neuroscience from UNIFESP, Professor at the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, UNIFESP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Insights
Children with epilepsy often exhibit auditory processing impairments, regardless of seizure type. This study highlights deficits in nonverbal auditory skills among these children compared to the general population.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Audiology
Background:
- Auditory processing in children can be affected by developmental factors.
- Neurological disorders, including epilepsy, are risk factors for auditory processing disorders.
- Previous research suggests verbal auditory processing issues in children with epilepsy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the nonverbal auditory processing abilities of children with epilepsy using a dichotic test.
- To determine if seizure type (partial vs. generalized) influences nonverbal auditory performance.
Main Methods:
- Thirty-eight children (7–16 years) with idiopathic epilepsy (23 partial, 15 generalized seizures) were assessed.
- Participants had no clinical or imaging evidence of cerebral lesions.
- Exclusion criteria included illiteracy, hearing loss, and confirmed brain lesions.
Main Results:
- The majority of children with epilepsy demonstrated impairments in nonverbal auditory processing on the dichotic test.
- No significant differences in performance were observed between patients with partial and generalized seizures.
- All epileptic patients performed differently compared to a non-epileptic control population.
Conclusions:
- Epilepsy is associated with a high prevalence of nonverbal auditory processing impairments.
- These deficits are evident in a dichotic listening paradigm.
- The findings underscore the need for auditory assessments in children with epilepsy.
Abstract:
Auditory processing during childhood may be altered if there is any predisposing factor during the course of development. Neurological disorders are among the risk factors for auditory processing disorders. Some studies have shown verbal auditory processing disorder in children with epilepsy.
Objective:
To verify the performance of children with epilepsy on a nonverbal dichotic test.
Methods:
Thirty-eight subjects, 23 female and 15 male, ranging from 7 to 16 years of age with neurological diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy, without clinical or imaging evidence of cerebral lesion were evaluated. Patients were divided into two groups: 23 patients diagnosed with partial seizures and 15 patients with generalized seizures. Illiterate children, children with hearing thresholds exceeding the normal range and with brain lesions confirmed either clinically or by imaging tests were excluded from the study group.
Results:
Analysis of the performance of epileptic patients with partial and generalized seizures on the Nonverbal Dichotic Test revealed that the majority of patients with epilepsy showed impairments in the test, with no significant differences related to seizure type, generalized or partial. Although patients with partial and generalized seizures performed similarly, all the epileptic patients showed different performance to a normal population.
Conclusions:
This study revealed a high prevalence of impairments among epileptic patients in relation to nonverbal processing in a dichotic paradigm.
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