Auditory processing performance in blind people

ABSTRACT: Hearing has an important role in human development and social adaptation in blind people. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of temporal auditory processing in blind people; to characterize the temporal resolution ability; to characterize the temporal ordinance ability and to compare the performance of the study population in the applied tests. METHODS: Fifteen blind adults participated in this study. A cross-sectional study was undertaken; approval was obtained from the Pernambuco Catholic University Ethics Committee, no. 003/2008. RESULTS: Temporal auditory processing was excellent - the average composed threshold in the original RGDT version was 4.98 ms; it was 50 ms for all frequencies in the expanded version. PPS and DPS results ranged from 95% to 100%. There were no quantitative differences in the comparison of tests; but oral reports suggested that the original RGDT original version was more difficult. CONCLUSION: The study sample performed well in temporal auditory processing; it also performed well in temporal resolution and ordinance abilities.