A Method of Evaluating the Horizontal Sound Localization Ability in Normal Children Aged 1~3 Years Old / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore a method of detecting the horizontal localization ability in normal children aged 1~3 years old, and to obtain the minimum audible angle (MAA) at horizontal 0° degree in these children.Methods Using minimum audible angle measure procedure on the basis of conditioned play audiometry and behavioral audiometry methods, sound localization test at horizontal 0° degree was conducted in 37 children aged from 1 to 7 years old with stimulus of different frequencies.Results All 37 children completed the 1 000 Hz tests, 35 children completed the 500 Hz tests, and 30 children completed the 4 000 Hz test.An analysis of 30 children who completed all the tests was performed, 15 of them aged 1~3 years old and the rest aged 4~7 years old.The results for children aged 1~3 years old were as below 1 000 Hz MAA(0°) =3.57°±1.35°,500 Hz MAA(0°) =5.03°±2.96°,and 4 000 Hz MAA(0°) =5.4°±2.86°, respectively.The results for children aged 4~7 years old were as below 1 000 Hz MAA(0°) =3.56°±1.48°,500 Hz MAA(0°) =3.5°±2.17°,and 4 000 Hz MAA(0°) =6.13°±4.09°, respectively.There was no significant difference in MAA (0 °) at corresponding frequencies between the two groups.For the children aged 1~3 years old, there was no significant difference in MAA (0 °) among 500 Hz, 1 000 Hz and 4 000 Hz frequencies.For the children aged 4~7 years old, there was significant difference in MAA(0 °) between 500 Hz and 4 000 Hz as well as between 1 000 Hz and 4 000 Hz frequencies.However, there was no significant difference in MAA (0 °) between 500 Hz and 1 000 Hz frequencies.Conclusion MAA test procedure on the basis of conditioned behavioral audiometry and play audiometry could be used to evaluate the ability of sound localization in 1~3 years old children.The frequencies may have effects on children''s sound localization test results and there was no significant difference in MAA (0 °) between the 1~3 years old group and the 4~7 years age group.