An optimal dichotic-listening paradigm for the assessment of hemispheric dominance for speech processing

Abstract

Dichotic-listening paradigms are widely accepted as non-invasive test of hemispheric dominance for language processing and represent a standard diagnostic tool for the assessment of developmental auditory and language disorders. Despite of its popularity in research and clinical settings, dichotic paradigms show comparatively low reliability, significantly threatening the validity of conclusions drawn from the results. Thus, the aim of the present work was to design and evaluate a novel, highly reliable dichotic-listening paradigm. Based on an extensive literature review, the paradigm was optimized to account for all variables which are known to systematically bias task performance. A main design principle was to minimize the relevance of higher cognitive functions on task performance in order to obtain stimulus-driven laterality estimates. To this end, the key design features of the paradigm, were the use of stop-consonant vowel (CV) syllables as stimulus material, a single stimulus pair per trial presentation mode, and a free recall (single) response instruction. Evaluating a verbal and manual response-format version of the paradigm in a sample of N = 50 healthy participants, we yielded test-retest intra-class correlation of rICC = .91 and .93 for the two response format versions. These excellent reliability estimates suggest that the optimal paradigm may offer an effective and efficient alternative to currently used paradigms both in research and diagnostic.

An optimal dichotic-listening paradigm for the assessment of hemispheric dominance for speech processing

“…Effect sizes were expressed as Cohen's d or proportion explained variance (η 2 ). The data can be downloaded from the associated OSF platform [45].…”

“…One run of the paradigm took approximately 12 min including instructions, and short breaks between the blocks. The paradigm is available as part of the OptDL Project on the OSF platform [45].…”

Assessing the reliability of an online behavioural laterality battery: A pre-registered study

“…As with the visual half-field paradigm, the test-retest reliability of dichotic listening paradigms has been far from optimal (Kelley & Littenberg, 2019;Voyer, 1998). However, recent data from Westerhausen and Samuelsen (2020) indicated that when designed optimally, the dichotic listening paradigm can be reliable. First, based on a review of the published literature, Westerhausen and Samuelsen outlined eight design features that should be used in an optimal dichotic listening paradigm and explained their justification for each.…”

Assessing the reliability of an online behavioural laterality battery: A pre-registered study.

“…We further showed (see Figure 4) that there was little decline in reliability with 85 trials, and with as few as 60 trials, the current implementation of the dichotic listening task yielded a test-retest correlation higher than r = .65, suggesting that those who wish to use this paradigm in the future could use a smaller number of trials. It would be of interest to extend this line of work to use the modified version of dichotic listening described by Westerhausen and Samuelsen (2020), which had even higher reliability. Of course, it is important to screen for adequate use of stereo headphones when devising online versions of the task.…”

“…As with the visual half-field paradigm, the test-retest reliability of dichotic listening paradigms has been far from optimal (Voyer, 1998;Kelley & Littenberg, 2019). However, recent data from Westerhausen and Samuelsen (2020) indicated that when designed well, the dichotic listening paradigm can be reliable. First, based on a review of the published literature, Westerhausen and Samuelsen outlined eight design features that should be used in an optimal dichotic listening paradigm and explain their justification for each.…”