AudBility: an online program for central auditory processing screening in school-aged children from 6 to 8 years old

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Auditory processing is crucial for learning and development.
• Screening tools aid in early identification of auditory challenges.
• Understanding biological influences on auditory skills is essential for accurate assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess student performance in an auditory skills screening software.
• To investigate the impact of biological factors (age, gender, ear side) on auditory task outcomes.
• To correlate screening results with central auditory processing (CAP) behavioral tests and establish cutoff points.

Main Methods:

• A two-stage study involving 96 typically developing students.
• Stage 1: School-based hearing screening using a questionnaire and various auditory tasks (e.g., sound localization, temporal resolution, dichotic digits).
• Stage 2: 66 children underwent comprehensive audiological and CAP behavioral assessments.

Main Results:

• Gender influenced dichotic digit (DD) task performance in the right ear.
• Age significantly affected outcomes in five auditory tasks.
• The right ear demonstrated superior performance in DD and frequency pattern (OT-F) tasks.
• Correlations between screening and diagnosis were observed for multiple tasks in 6-7 year olds, and fewer tasks in 8 year olds.
• Pass/fail criteria varied based on task and biological determinants.

Conclusions:

• A higher number of auditory tasks correlated between screening and diagnosis in children aged 6-7 years.
• Auditory task cutoff points require consideration of age, sex, and ear side for accurate interpretation.
• The findings support age and sex-specific normative data for auditory screening tools.