Implementation and evaluation of a Danish test battery for auditory processing disorder in children

Abstract

Objective: This study presents a Danish test battery for auditory processing disorder (APD). The tests were evaluated as to normative cut-off values (pass-fail criteria) and their test–retest reliability. Design: The battery consists of four behavioural tests: the filtered words (FW) test, the dichotic digits (DD) test, the gap detection (GD) test and the binaural masking level difference (BMLD) test. The tests were evaluated through listening experiments on children with no known history of auditory problems. Study sample: The normative cut-off values were obtained from 158 children (75 boys and 83 girls, aged 6–16 years), whereas the test–retest reliability was obtained from 20 children (10 boys and 10 girls, aged 6–11 years). Results: For each of the four tests one to four different cut-off values were determined depending on whether the scores from the two ears and the different age groups could be pooled. For each of the four tests the test–retest reliability was found to be satisfactory. The test–retest reliability was highest for the FW and the DD test. Conclusions: A Danish APD test battery is now available for clinical use with normative data.

Key Words:

• APD
• test battery
• filtered words
• dichotic digits
• gap detection
• binaural masking level difference
• children
• cut-off values
• test–retest reliability
• Danish

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Danish APD group for initiating the project and for valuable discussions as well as Gert Ravn and Carsten Daugaard from DELTA for providing technical support. The authors also thank Mariann Borlund, Center for Høretab (Centre for Hearing loss) for collecting part of the data set (the other part was collected by one of the co-authors). Furthermore, the authors thank the teachers and pupils at the two primary schools, where data were collected. Finally, the authors thank Helen Grey, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University and Olena Riabinina, MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Imperial College London for proofreading of the manuscript and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments.

Declaration of interest

This study was supported by the hearing aid company Widex and the Oticon Foundation, grant numbers 06-1967 and 12-1361. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.