Relation Between the Screening Checklist for Auditory Processing in Adults and Diagnostic Auditory Processing Test...

Purpose The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between the Screening Checklist for Auditory Processing in Adults and the performance of older adults on a battery of diagnostic tests for auditory processing. This was done for two versions of the checklist, one answered by older individuals at risk for auditory processing disorder (APD) and the other by the family of the older adults. Method Forty-nine older adults and 34 of their family members were initially tested with the screening checklist, each being tested with the version developed for them. Approximately half of the older adults had normal pure-tone thresholds, while the others had mild-moderate hearing loss above 2 kHz. The older adults were administered tests of auditory separation/closure, auditory integration, temporal resolution, temporal patterning, and auditory memory and sequencing. Results Most of the older adults and their family members reported of the presence of auditory processing difficulties on the screening checklist. On the diagnostic test battery, many of the older adults, irrespective of their high-frequency hearing sensitivity, failed the tests measuring temporal resolution and auditory integration. The sensitivity and specificity of the checklist answered by the older individuals were 69.05% and 71.43%, respectively. On the other hand, for the checklist answered by the family members, it was 77.78% and 33.33%, respectively. The test-retest reliability of the two versions of the checklist was found to be good. Conclusions As the specificity of the checklist answered by the family members was considerably lower than that answered by the older adults, the use of the version for the latter group is recommended. However, the checklist answered by the caregivers could be used to complement information obtained from the older adults at risk for APD when the older adults are unable to give valid responses.