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The study of central auditory processing in stuttering children

The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology volume 30, pages 357–361 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

There are evidences that indicate a relationship between auditory processing disorders and stuttering.

Aim

The aim of the study was to evaluate central auditory processing in stuttering children and to compare the findings with those of normal fluent children.

Patients and methods

Twenty stuttering school-age children of both sexes were included in the study. A control group included 20 age-matched and sex-matched nonstuttering children. Full informed consent from all participants was taken before initiating the study. All participants were subjected to the following central auditory processing tests: pitch pattern sequence test (PPST), dichotic digit test (DDT), speech in noise test (children version) (SPIN), auditory fusion test revised (AFT-R), and binaural masking level difference (MLD) test. All patients were subjected to stuttering severity instrument III to assess their stuttering and its severity.

Results

The stuttering group scored significantly poorer in the PPST, DDT, and SPIN, whereas they scored similar to the control group in MLD and AFT-R. There was no correlation between the severity of stuttering and the performance on the central auditory processing tests.

Conclusion

Stuttering children have an intact brain stem integrity shown by the normal MLD and an intact right hemisphere as signified by the normal right and left ear difference in the DDT and by the improvement in the PPST on humming. Left hemisphere deficit appears in more complicated tasks such as PPST, DDT, and SPIN, but not in simple tasks such as AFT-R. We can conclude that the deficit is within the left cerebral hemisphere.

Recommendation

The effect of the usage of central auditory processing disorder rehabilitation programs on those children should further be assessed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Unit of Audiology, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, 182 Omar Lofty Street Sporting Tram Station, Alexandria, 21111, Egypt

    Samir Asal MD

  2. Unit of Phoniatrics, Unit of Audiology, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

    Rania M. Abdou

Authors
  1. Samir Asal MD
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  2. Rania M. Abdou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samir Asal MD.

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Conflicts of interest

None declared.

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Asal, S., Abdou, R.M. The study of central auditory processing in stuttering children. Egypt J Otolaryngol 30, 357–361 (2014). https://doi.org/10.4103/1012-5574.144976

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