Auditory phoneme discrimination, articulation, and language disorders in patients with genetic epilepsy with febrile...

Genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+) is an epilepsy syndrome with clinical heterogeneity that was first described in 1997. Central auditory processing (CAP) is defined as the neurophysiological process in decoding sound waves from the outer ear to the auditory cortex. The present study aimed to analyze CAP and phonological disorders in preschool-age children with GEFS+.

This is a prospective case-control study. Twenty-seven patients diagnosed with GEFS+ aged between 4 years and 6 years and 6 months and 31 healthy controls in the same age range were included in the study. Phonological sensitivity test (SAT) and auditory discrimination test (İAT) were applied to both groups, and the results of both groups were statistically compared.

The SAT and İAT raw and Z scores of the subjects in the study group were found to be significantly higher than those of the control group (p = 0.001; p < 0.01). Electroencephalography (EEG) status of the patients or the duration of antiseizure medication use did not have a statistically significant effect on the outcome.

Patients with GEFS+ have a significantly high impairment in both articulation and auditory discrimination of phonemes compared with the healthy population. Early diagnosis and early treatment of this condition can prevent potential literacy problems and the development of dyslexia in the future.