Central Auditory Processing Development in Primary School Children

Marie Dekerle (1) , Fanny Meunier (2) , Marie-Ange N'Guyen (3) , Estelle Gillet-Perret (3) , Delphine Lassus-Sangosse (3) , Sophie Donnadieu (4)

1 L2C2 - Institut des Sciences cognitives Marc Jeannerod - Laboratoire sur le langage, le cerveau et la cognition
2 BCL, équipe Langage et Cognition
3 CHUGA - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire [CHU Grenoble]
4 LPNC - Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition

Objective: The aim of this study was twofold: (1) investigating the development of auditory processing abilities, and (2) exploring the possibility of the clinical application of the test battery used in the study. Design: The proposed battery aims to test a wide range of central auditory abilities as defined by ASHA (2005) within strict time constraints: lateralization, discrimination (i.e., frequency, duration and intensity), auditory identification, semantic recognition , temporal order judgment, central masking and stream segregation. All tests use nonverbal material to minimize the effect of language development. Study Sample: Eighty-nine typically developing children from 1st to 5th grade (from 6.7 to 10.6 years old) and 23 young adults were tested on these several auditory tasks. Results: A developmental effect was revealed in all but one proposed task: stream segregation. Interestingly, developmental trajectories differed depending on the task, with a developmental step and maturation occurring before adulthood for some abilities and linear development leading to maturation occurring during adolescence for other abilities. Conclusion: This study shows that (1) auditory processes develop during childhood at different rates and in different ways and (2) the battery can test a wide range of them in a relatively short amount of time.

Mots clés: Typical Development; (APD) Auditory Processing Disorders; Auditory Development; (ASHA) American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; (AEP) Auditory Evoked Potentials; (SLI) Specific Language Impairment; Central Auditory Abilities; (BSA) British Society of Audiology

Domaines: Psychologie

Marie Dekerle, Fanny Meunier, Marie-Ange N'Guyen, Estelle Gillet-Perret, Delphine Lassus-Sangosse, et al.. Central Auditory Processing Development in Primary School Children. International Journal of Phonetics and Audiology, 2018, 2018 (1), ⟨10.29011/IJPA-102.100002⟩. ⟨hal-01929254⟩