The use of the Feather Squadron to identify auditory processing disorders in South African children: a comparative study

Abstract

Objective

Development of the Feather Squadron (FS) has created a cost-effective, accessible form of assessment through tele-audiology. As accessibility to reliable, cost-effective assessment of auditory processing (AP) skills is limited in South Africa (SA), this study aims to establish whether there is correlation between the FS and traditional tests of AP viz. Frequency Pattern and Dichotic Digits Test, and to establish its relevance to the SA population.

Design

Retrospective, within-subject, comparative design used to compare performance on the FS and the traditional tests. Data were considered in two ways: Firstly, using the traditional −2SD cut-off on some subtests of the FS compared to the same traditional tests, and secondly, by comparing the Z-scores obtained on the FS compared to Z-scores on the same traditional tests obtained by applying a double arcsine transformation.

Study sample

Sixty-six subjects (35 males, 31 females) aged between 8.08 and 9.75 years (mean = 8.73; SD = 0.51) seen for AP assessments between 2016 and 2019.

Results

−2SD criteria yielded no significant association (p > 0.05). Z-score comparison suggested a statistically significant correlation (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

A statistically significant correlation between certain subtests of FS with traditional tests of AP to merit its use in the SA population is suggested.

Keywords:

• Feather Squadron
• dichotic digits
• frequency pattern
• auditory processing
• South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).