Electrophysiological and behavioral assessment of temporal processing / Avaliação eletrofisiológica e comportamental do processamento temporal

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2008

RESUMO

INTRODUCTION: Temporal processing can be defined as a perception of temporal characteristics of the sound, or as a perception of the change in the duration of these characteristics, in a restrict period of time. For these subtle changes to be noticed, the central nervous system needs an accurate processing of the structure of the acoustic stimulus received. The aims of this study were: to assess the temporal resolution using two different tests - the gaps-in-noise test (a behavioral test) and the Auditory steady-state response (an electrophysiological test) in three groups of subjects: normal group; neurological group and (central) auditory processing disorder group. It also aimed to verify the sensitivity and specificity of the two tests. METHODS: Seventy volunteers of both genders were evaluated. Subjects ranged in age from 16 to 50 years, and were divided in three groups: G1 (normal group); G2 (subjects with temporal lobe insult caused by temporal mesial sclerosis) and G3 (subjects with (central) auditory processing disorder). Both tests were conducted on all subjects. The lists 1 and 2 of the gap-in-noise test were applied in all subjects. Gap detection threshold and the percentage of correct responses were calculated for all participants. Auditory steady-state response with 46 Hz of frequency modulation was applied for the frequencies of 500 Hz and 2000 Hz in both ears. Electrophysiological and estimated thresholds were calculated, and the difference between estimated and behavioral tonal thresholds was also obtained for the subjects. RESULTS: results of the gaps-in-noise test showed that the G2 gap detection thresholds were significantly worse than the G1 and G3 thresholds. The same result was observed for the percentage of correct responses, G2 showed a worse percentage of correct responses than those verified for the G1 and the G3 groups. Individuals of the G3 showed increased gap detection threshold compared with the G1, although this difference was not statistically significant. Gaps-in-noise test showed a good specificity for all groups, and a better sensitivity for the neurological lesions group than for the central auditory processing disorder group. Auditory steady-state response results suggested that G2 had electrophysiological and estimated thresholds significantly worse than G1 and G3. The difference between electrophysiological and behavioral threshold for G2 was bigger than the difference obtained in G1 and G3. Specificity and sensitivity results were similar to what was observed for the gaps-in-noise test results. Moreover, a good specificity was detected and the sensitivity showed better results for neurological lesions than for (central) auditory processing disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with central auditory nervous system lesions showed larger commitment of temporal resolution ability, evaluated through the gaps-innoise test and through the auditory steady state test, than normal individuals. Specificity values for all groups in both tests were better than sensitivity values. The sensitivity for the neurological lesion group was better than for the central auditory processing disorder group, for the two tests.

ASSUNTO(S)

auditory evoked potentials percepção auditiva potenciais evocados auditivos epilepsia do lobo temporal electrophysiology eletrofisiologia temporal lobe epilepsy auditory perception

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