Characteristics of Auditory Processing Disorders: A Systematic Review
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
de Wit, E., Visser-Bochane, M. I., et al. (2016).
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 59(2), 384-413.
This systematic review compares the characteristics and performance of children, 18 years or younger, with a suspected or a diagnosed auditory processing disorder to typically developing peers. The following summary highlights conclusions regarding the psychometric properties of auditory processing assessment measures.
Regional Attention and Action for Knowledge circulation (The Netherlands)
1954 to May 31, 2015
Experimental studies with control groups, excluding narrative reviews, dissertations, case studies, and case series
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<p>The authors found eight studies investigating the following questionnaires:</p><ul> <li>the Children's Auditory Processing Performance Scale,</li> <li>the Fisher's Auditory Problems Checklist,</li> <li>the Listening Inventory for Education-Revised,</li> <li>the Children's Listening and Processing Skills,</li> <li>Teacher Evaluation of Auditory Performance,</li> <li>Evaluation of Children's Listening and Processing Skills, and</li> <li>the Children's Communication Checklist-Second Edition.</li></ul>Questionnaires for assessing listening difficulties in children with suspected or diagnosed auditory processing disorder (APD) lack validated and standardized psychometric properties.<ul></ul>
Auditory processing tests (e.g., behavioral tests, temporal processing, binaural processing, speech-in-noise, otoacoustic emissions, and auditory brainstem response) lack validity, reliability, and appropriate normative data for the identification of auditory processing disorder in children with listening difficulties. While children with suspected or diagnosed APD performed poorly on listening skills, they performed more poorly on attention, memory, communication, and psychosocial measures when compared to typically developing peers. These auditory processing tests "are influenced by cognitive (NV-IQ, attention, memory), language, and reading skills" (p. 408).
