Peripheral Auditory Involvement in Childhood Listening Difficulty.

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Pediatric audiology
• Hearing science

Background:

• Idiopathic listening difficulties (LiDs) in children are often reported by caregivers.
• The potential for undetected peripheral hearing impairment in children with LiDs requires investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the hypothesis that children with idiopathic listening difficulties (LiDs) exhibit undetected peripheral hearing impairment.
• To compare auditory function in children with LiDs to typically developed (TD) children using sensitive measures.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 60 children with LiDs and 54 TD children (aged 6-14 years).
• Conducted standard and extended high-frequency (EHF) pure-tone audiometry, tympanometry, middle ear muscle reflexes, and otoacoustic emissions.
• Employed univariate/multivariate mixed models and regression analysis to assess group differences and influencing factors.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in peripheral auditory measures were found between LiD and TD groups.
• Extended high-frequency (EHF) hearing thresholds, tympanometry, middle ear reflexes, and otoacoustic emissions were related to a history of pressure equalization (PE) tube surgery across all children.
• Physiologic measures were associated with EHF hearing loss, linked to PE tube history.

Conclusions:

• Children with validated LiDs do not show significant peripheral auditory function differences compared to age- and sex-matched TD children.
• History of PE tube surgery is significantly associated with EHF hearing and various physiologic auditory measures in children.
• Peripheral auditory function appears intact in children with LiDs, but PE tube history is a relevant factor for auditory health.