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Updated: May 28, 2026
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Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique
Published on: September 7, 2022
Executive Functioning in Single-Sided Deafness: A Pediatric Comparison with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.
Jessica C Luedke1, David Faller2, Dana Martino1
1Department of Psychiatry, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Journal of Clinical Medicine
|May 27, 2026
Summary
Children with single-sided deafness (SSD) may experience executive functioning (EF) challenges, particularly those with congenital onset. Caregiver reports are crucial for identifying potential EF deficits in these children, especially concerning auditory working memory.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Audiology
Background:
- Single-sided deafness (SSD) involves normal hearing in one ear and deafness in the other.
- Complex auditory environments may tax cognitive resources for executive functioning (EF) in children with SSD.
- The cognitive burden of SSD on EF is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize EF in children with SSD.
- To compare EF performance in children with SSD to normative data and a temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) group.
- To investigate the relationship between performance-based and caregiver-rated EF measures in children with SSD.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of children aged 6-16 with unaided SSD (n=45) and TLE (n=39).
- Assessed EF using verbal fluency, digit span, coding, and BRIEF general executive composite.
- Compared congenital vs. acquired onset SSD on EF measures and caregiver-rated BASC-3 EF composite and BRIEF2 indexes.
Main Results:
- Caregiver-reported EF and test performance were generally within age expectations for the SSD group.
- Children with congenital SSD onset showed poorer caregiver-reported everyday EF.
- Elevated caregiver-reported EF in SSD correlated with challenges in auditory working memory tasks.
- EF profiles were similar between SSD and TLE groups, with TLE showing worse semantic fluency.
Conclusions:
- Caregiver-rated EF measures are valuable for detecting neuropsychological deficits in children with SSD.
- Children with congenital SSD may require closer EF monitoring.
- Auditory working memory deficits (digit span backward) were noted in children with elevated daily EF.
- Further research is needed on factors influencing EF in children with SSD, including hearing technology use.
