Testing a Possible Cause of Reduced Ability of Children to Process Speech in Noise

Launched by NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS (NIDCD) · Jan 18, 2000

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Five to ten percent of school-age children in the United States are identified as having learning disability and 10 to 20% have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Many of these children have difficulty with tasks that challenge the auditory system. It is estimated that 3 to 7 percent of children have difficulty with auditory processing as a major factor interfering with education (Chermak and Musiek, 1997). Pinpointing physiological causes of auditory processing difficulty has been elusive. Intervention is hampered by the lack of knowledge of possible physical causes and there...

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• INCLUSION CRITERIA:
• • Subjects selected will be between the ages of 12 and 18 years.
• • All subjects must score within normal limits on measures of threshold sensitivity, speech recognition in quiet, middle ear function and TEOAEs to be included in the study.
• • Group A subjects must be identified as having learning or attention problems in school and show show reduced scores on speech-in-noise tasks.
• • Group B subjects must demonstrate speech-in-noise scores within normal limits.
• • Groups will be matched for sex, age and handedness.
• EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
• • Subjects will be excluded for history of voice disorders, autism, stuttering, aphasia, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, severe language disorders and psychiatric disorders.
• • Children who are being treated for hyperactivity disorder will be excluded.
• • Children who are taking medication prescribed for hyperactivity, anxiety or depression may be excluded.
• • Children younger than 12 will be excluded.