RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) has serious implications on temporal resolution when the nonfunctioning areas known as cochlear dead regions (DRs) exist. Previous studies have not clarified this effect in the pediatric population. PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of DRs in school-age Egyptian children with SNHL and to explore the effect of these DRs on temporal resolution ability. RESEARCH DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional case-control study. STUDY SAMPLE: The Gaps-In-Noise (GIN) test was administered to 70 normal-hearing and 30 hearing-impaired (HI) children (ages 6-16 years), matched in age and gender. In HI children, cochlear DRs were detected using the Threshold-Equalizing Noise test. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Comparison of quantitative data involved parametric (Student's t and one-way ANOVA) and nonparametric (Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H) tests, depending on normality distribution. Comparison of categorical variables required Chi-square or Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS: The prevalence of DRs was 30% in school-age children, with a hearing threshold range of >40-70 dB HL, mainly affecting high frequencies. HI children had significantly impaired GIN test results, especially when DRs were present. CONCLUSIONS: DRs markedly affect temporal resolution. Studying this relationship in children can improve strategies for amplification and temporal processing remediation, enhancing speech perception in these young participants.
