Nonverbal dichotic test in patients with epilepsy

Teste dicótico não-verbal em pacientes com epilepsia

Abstract

Auditory processing during childhood may be altered if there is any predisposing factor during the course of development. Neurological disorders are among the risk factors for auditory processing disorders. Some studies have shown verbal auditory processing disorder in children with epilepsy.

Objective:

To verify the performance of children with epilepsy on a nonverbal dichotic test.

Methods:

Thirty-eight subjects, 23 female and 15 male, ranging from 7 to 16 years of age with neurological diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy, without clinical or imaging evidence of cerebral lesion were evaluated. Patients were divided into two groups: 23 patients diagnosed with partial seizures and 15 patients with generalized seizures. Illiterate children, children with hearing thresholds exceeding the normal range and with brain lesions confirmed either clinically or by imaging tests were excluded from the study group.

Results:

Analysis of the performance of epileptic patients with partial and generalized seizures on the Nonverbal Dichotic Test revealed that the majority of patients with epilepsy showed impairments in the test, with no significant differences related to seizure type, generalized or partial. Although patients with partial and generalized seizures performed similarly, all the epileptic patients showed different performance to a normal population.

Conclusions:

This study revealed a high prevalence of impairments among epileptic patients in relation to nonverbal processing in a dichotic paradigm.

Key words:
epilepsy; auditory perception; hearing disorders.

Resumo

O processamento da informação auditiva na infância pode estar alterado se houver algum fator predisponente durante o desenvolvimento. As alterações neurológicas são um fator de risco para distúrbios no processamento auditivo. Alguns estudos já demonstraram alteração do processamento da informação auditiva verbal em crianças com epilepsia.

Objetivo:

Verificar a performance de pacientes com epilepsia no teste dicótico não-verbal.

Métodos:

38 crianças e adolescentes, na faixa etária compreendida entre 7 e 16 anos, com diagnóstico neurológico de epilepsia idiopática, 23 que apresentavam crise parcial e 15 com crise generalizada foram submetidas ao teste dicótico não-verbal.

Resultados:

Muitos pacientes com epilepsia apresentaram alterações no teste dicótico não-verbal. Não houve diferenças na presença e/ou tipo de alterações identificadas, segundo o tipo de crise, parcial ou generalizada.

Conclusões:

O estudo revelou alto índice de alterações no processamento auditivo de sons não-verbais, avaliado através de tarefa dicótica, em pacientes com epilepsia.

Palavras-chave:
epilepsia; percepção auditiva; transtornos da audição.

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Full text available only in PDF format.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Apr-Jun 2009

History

• Received
  09 Apr 2009
• Accepted
  09 May 2009