Analysis of the auditory processing skills in 1,012 children aged 6–9 confirms the adequacy of APD testing in 6-year-olds

The aim of the study was to assess the validity of the use of the battery of tests assessing higher auditory functions in the diagnostic process of APD in 6-year-old children. The study involved 1,012 Polish-speaking children aged 6 to 9 years with normal hearing sensitivity. The evaluation of auditory functions was performed using the ATS Neuroflow test battery comprising: Adaptive Speech in Noise test (ASPN-S), Dichotic Digits Test (DDT) and Frequency Pattern Test (FPT). Two groups were distinguished: the group”S” (Study) containing 880 participants with APD (participants who obtained abnormal results in at least two tests) and the group”C” (Control) including 132 participants without APD. The results obtained by 6-year-old children in behavioral tests present a similar disorder’s profile to those of older children in terms of the prevalence of specific deficits and their severity. Performance in the APD tests of healthy 6-year-old children is higher than 9-year-old children with APD, despite the process of physiological development of hearing functions in older children. The test assessing understanding speech in noise was the most frequently impaired among all examined, while the dichotic listening with distracted attention was the least frequently impaired function. The deficit found in DDT was opposite between patients with APD and healthy children, we called the detected phenomenon the reversed lateralization pattern. The use of DDT, FPT and ASPN-S tests to evaluate higher auditory functions in the process of diagnosing APD in 6-year-old children is justified by the lack of discrepancy in the disorder profile of 6-year-old children in comparison with older children, both in the healthy population, and in children with impaired auditory function development. Early diagnosis can be beneficial for accurate programming of therapeutic goals.