AUDITORY PERFORMANCE OF SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT LEARNING DISABILITIES IN A MINIMAL BATTERY OF THE AUDBILITY PROGRAM

Abstract

Introduction: It is known that there is a relationship between the occurrence of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) and academic difficulties in children at school. Therefore, school hearing screening protocols, which encompass not only peripheral auditory screening, but also the screening of Central Auditory Processing (CAP) auditory abilities, have been studied. As a result, the AudBility program was developed nationally and had the first studies published recently. Among the results, a proposal for a minimum battery is discussed, which aims to reduce application time, maintaining the sensitivity, efficiency and effectiveness of the tests. However, this protocol has not yet been studied. Purpose: To analyze the performance of children with and without school difficulties in a minimum battery protocol for screening auditory abilities from the AudBility program. Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical, comparative, cross-sectional and quantitative study, approved by the Institution's Research Ethics Committee (Sight 6.216.032/CAEE 67851723.5.0000.5404) based on a partnership with a School in the Network State Education. Children aged between 6 and 8 years old will be included, native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, without a previous diagnosis of cognitive changes, syndromes or neurodevelopmental disorders; no previous hearing changes or those detected in peripheral audiological assessment (otoscopy, immittance testing, speech audiometry and pure tone audiometry). The tests applied will be: School Performance Test (SPT-II) and AudBility minimum protocol, consisting of the tasks Temporal Resolution (TR), Temporal Ordering (TO), Dichotic Digits (DD), Auditory Closure (AC) and Questionnaire of Self-Perception of Listening Skills (QSPLS). The sample will be divided into two groups for analysis of results: Group I - Children with good academic performance, from the percentile greater than or equal to 60%, in both subtests of the SPT-II and Group II: Children with performance less than or equal to to 40% in SPT-II. Results: It is expected that this study can contribute to validation data for the minimum battery of the AudBility Program, since the screening of auditory abilities aims to minimize academic and social impacts resulting from school difficulties, thus favoring diagnosis and intervention of children at risk for CAPD.Keywords: Hearing, screening, child, performance