ABSTRACT
Purpose
To analyze the auditory performance of students in basic audiological evaluation, and later, in cases of integrity of the peripheral auditory pathways, to evaluate and compare the performance of children with good school performance (GC) and unsatisfactory school performance (GE) in binaural integration task.
Methods
Cross-sectional and descriptive study. Anamnesis, basic audiological evaluation, and Dichotic Digits Test (DDT) were performed. The sample consisted initially of 63 children in the GE and 61 in the GC. The inclusion criteria for basic audiological evaluation for both groups were: schoolchildren aged from 8 to 10 years, native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, with adequate understanding of the instructions provided.
Results
The groups were homogeneous regarding age and heterogeneous regarding gender, with more boys in GE and girls in GC. Children of the GE presented worse hearing behavior in noisy environment, attention and agitation, in the perception of guardians. In the peripheral auditory evaluation, there was a statistically significant difference between the groups. GE presented hearing loss and/or alteration of the middle ear in a larger number of children. In DDT, statistically significant differences were found between the groups, the GE presented worse performance in the task of binaural integration.
Conclusion
Children with unsatisfactory school performance presented worse peripheral auditory performance and figure-background ability for verbal sounds. Thus, auditory screening programs should include procedures of the basic audiological evaluation and the central auditory processing.
Keywords:
Hearing; Hearing Tests; Students; Auditory Perception; Child