Auditory Processing in Children With Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media

Abstract

Background: Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) in early childhood can lead to auditory processing disorders in later life even though the hearing sensitivity has returned to normal. There is a dearth of studies in the literature that have evaluated the auditory processing in children with later onset of CSOM.Material and methods: Auditory processing was measured in terms of frequency discrimination (difference limen frequency, DLF), intensity discrimination (difference limen intensity, DLI), and gap detection threshold (GDT) in 15 children with CSOM of mean age 13 years as well as in 15 normal hearing children of comparable age.Results: An independent t-test was used to gauge the significance between the groups for all three parameters. There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) for all three. Conclusion:The results confirm that conductive hearing loss impairs the auditory processing abilities of children with CSOM, even in those aged 9 to 15 years. These findings highlight the importance of early intervention in cases of CSOM.