Authors: Mekhala V G¹, Dr. Prawin Kumar¹, Dr. Niraj Kumar Singh¹, Dr. Brajesh Priyadarshi¹, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Gupta¹, Ms. Rashmi H K¹
¹All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysuru, India
Background: Research suggests that children with central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) may or may not exhibit associated problems such as language difficulties, attention and cognitive deficits. The authors of the present study aimed to assess the comorbidity of language, attention and cognition deficit with CAPD in school going children.
Method: School-going children (N=1200) in the age range of 8 to 15 years participated in the present study. Out of 1200 school-going children, 80 children had above 50% scores in the screening checklist for auditory processing (SCAP). Out of these 80 children, 13 children were identified as having CAPD. These 13 children were also assessed for language, cognition, and attention deficits. The basic audiological tests were conducted. CAPD test battery included Speech in noise (SPIN), Gap detection test (GDT), Dichotic CV test (DCV), Duration pattern tests (DPT) and Auditory memory and sequencing test (AMST). The other test used were WHO ten disability checklist, developmental screening test, SCAP, English language test for Indian children (ELTIC) for English language skills, Linguistic profile test (LPT) for language, the colour cancellation test for selective attention and the N-back and 2-Back verbal working memory tests for cognitive abilities.
Results: Among 13 confirmed CAPD children, 15.38% (2/13) showed a deficit in GDT and DCV, 46.15% (6/13) exhibited deficits in SPIN, 61.53% (8/13) (DPT), and 30.76% (4/13) had poor performance in auditory memory and sequencing test. Further, out of 13 CAPD children, 30.76% (4/13) exhibited inadequate English language skills. Whereas all the 13 children with CAPD (100%) had age-appropriate skills in selective attention, verbal working memory and linguistic profile test. Therefore. Results point towards none of the children with CAPD had comorbidity of attention, cognition, and language impairment.
Conclusion: The above study sheds insight into the fact that CAPD may or may not be associated with co-morbid conditions like language, attention, and cognitive abilities among children with academic and listening difficulties.
