Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Scale of Auditory Behaviors Questionnaire.

Purpose Children with (central) auditory processing disorder [(C)APD] exhibit many cognitive difficulties and receive negative psychosocial consequences from their disorder. Diagnosis of (C)APD relies on multidisciplinary assessment, including psychological testing. There is a strong need for valid and reliable questionnaires to identify children who are at risk of (C)APD. This work aims to establish the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Scale of Auditory Behaviors (SAB; Domitz & Schow, 2000; Krzeszewska & Kurkowski, 2015; Miranda, Bruera, & Serra 2016; Musiek & Chermak, 2007; Nunes et al., 2013) as a screening tool in children. Method The SAB was administered to parents of 326 children (152 girls and 174 boys) aged from 6 to 12 years (M = 8.24, SD = 1.56). The questionnaire consists of 12 items related to various symptoms of (C)APD and allows the frequency of particular behaviors to be assessed. In addition, the questionnaire Children's Home Inventory for Listening Difficulties was administered to parents, and 3 other psychoacoustic behavioral tests (Frequency Pattern Test, Duration Pattern Test, Dichotic Digit Test; Czajka et al., 2012) were conducted on the children to evaluate their auditory abilities. Results The Polish version of SAB demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .93), confirmed by interitem correlations. Intraclass correlation, which was used to determine reproducibility, was .95. There were also significant and positive relationships, ranging from r = .17 to .68, between the SAB score and scores of other measures, indicating convergent validity of the tool. Girls demonstrated higher SAB scores than boys (p < .05); however, age was not statistically significant. A ceiling effect was detected, but no floor effect. Conclusions Results of psychometric and statistical analyses suggest the Polish version of SAB appears to be a valid and reliable questionnaire to evaluate symptoms of (C)APD in children, especially as a screening tool.

Abnormal Resting-State Quantitative Electroencephalogram in Children With Central Auditory Processing Disorder: A Pilot Study.

In this study, we showed an abnormal resting-state quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG) pattern in children with central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). Twenty-seven children (16 male, 11 female; mean age = 10.7 years) with CAPD and no symptoms of other developmental disorders, as well as 23 age- and sex-matched, typically developing children (TDC, 11 male, 13 female; mean age = 11.8 years) underwent examination of central auditory processes (CAPs) and QEEG evaluation consisting of two randomly presented blocks of "Eyes Open" (EO) or "Eyes Closed" (EC) recordings. Significant correlations between individual frequency band powers and CAP tests performance were found. The QEEG studies revealed that in CAPD relative to TDC there was no effect of decreased delta absolute power (1.5-4 Hz) in EO compared to the EC condition. Furthermore, children with CAPD showed increased theta power (4-8 Hz) in the frontal area, a tendency toward elevated theta power in EO block, and reduced low-frequency beta power (12-15 Hz) in the bilateral occipital and the left temporo-occipital regions for both EO and EC conditions. Decreased middle-frequency beta power (15-18 Hz) in children with CAPD was observed only in the EC block. The findings of the present study suggest that QEEG could be an adequate tool to discriminate children with CAPD from normally developing children. Correlation analysis shows relationship between the individual EEG resting frequency bands and the CAPs. Increased power of slow waves and decreased power of fast rhythms could indicate abnormal functioning (hypoarousal of the cortex and/or an immaturity) of brain areas not specialized in auditory information processing.

Reduced resting-state brain activity in the default mode network in children with (central) auditory processing disorders.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in Central Auditory Processing Disorder (C)APD. However, the neural correlates of (C)APD are poorly understood. Previous neuroimaging experiments have shown changes in the intrinsic activity of the brain in various cognitive deficits and brain disorders. The present study investigated the spontaneous brain activity in (C)APD subjects with resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI). METHODS: Thirteen children diagnosed with (C)APD and fifteen age and gender-matched controls participated in a rs-fMRI study during which they were asked to relax keeping their eyes open. Two different techniques of the rs-fMRI data analysis were used: Regional Homogeneity (ReHo) and Independent Component Analysis (ICA), which approach is rare. RESULTS: Both methods of data analysis showed comparable results in the pattern of DMN activity within groups. Additionally, ReHo analysis revealed increased co-activation of the superior frontal gyrus, the posterior cingulate cortex/the precuneus in controls, compared to the (C)APD group. ICA yielded inconsistent results across groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our ReHo results suggest that (C)APD children seem to present reduced regional homogeneity in brain regions considered a part of the default mode network (DMN). These findings might contribute to a better understanding of neural mechanisms of (C)APD.