Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses

Abstract

Collecting reliable behavioral data from toddlers and preschoolers is challenging. As a result, there are significant gaps in our understanding of human auditory development for these age groups. This paper describes an observer-based procedure for measuring hearing sensitivity with a two-interval, two-alternative forced-choice paradigm. Young children are trained to perform a play-based, motor response (e.g., putting a block in a bucket) whenever they hear a target signal. An experimenter observes the child's behavior and makes a judgment about whether the signal was presented during the first or second observation interval; the experimenter is blinded to the true signal interval, so this judgment is based solely on the child's behavior. These procedures were used to test 2 to 4 year-olds (n = 33) with no known hearing problems. The signal was a 1,000 Hz warble tone presented in quiet, and the signal level was adjusted to estimate a threshold corresponding to 71%-correct detection. A valid threshold was obtained for 82% of children. These results indicate that the two-interval procedure is both feasible and reliable for use with toddlers and preschoolers. The two-interval, observer-based procedure described in this paper is a powerful tool for evaluating hearing in young children because it guards against response bias on the part of the experimenter.

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2- to 7-Year-Old Children: Evaluation of a Two-Interval, Observer-Based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-Based Responses

“…Consequently, we have significant gaps in our understanding of how auditory development unfolds during this time period. One method that appears to be promising is an observer-based procedure that uses conditioned, play-based responses (Bonino & Leibold, 2017). In order to evaluate the quality of data obtained with this method, this study presented a suprathreshold signal to determine the number of trials 2-to 7-year-old children could complete, as well as the associated hit rate and observer confidence.…”

“…However, it is not clear how auditory development unfolds during the toddler and preschool years due to methodological constraints. In order to address the shortage of behavioral methods for testing young children, Bonino and Leibold (2017) developed an observer-based method in which a child's behavior is judged by an experimenter (called an observer) using a two-interval, two-alternative testing paradigm. Children's response to the stimulus is further shaped by training them to perform a conditioned, play-based response to the sound.…”

“…This method is called the Play Observer-Based, Two-Interval (PlayO2I) method. While initial feasibility data for this method are promising (Bonino & Leibold, 2017), questions remain regarding the feasibility and reliability of this method. How many trials can children perform in a single test session?…”

“…Based on the child's behavior, the observer determines if the signal occurred in Interval 1 or Interval 2. Using the PlayO2I method, we recently measured tone detection thresholds for thirty-three 2-to 4-year-old children with no known hearing problems (Bonino & Leibold, 2017). A valid threshold estimate was obtained for 82% of the children.…”

Developing the Persian Version of Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale

“…Evaluating auditory access and auditory skills of infants and toddlers can be challenging. Their behavioral test results may be inconsistent [11]. In addition, pure tone audiometry and speech recognition tests in quiet overlook auditory function in real-world situations; thus, may not be good predictors of child's auditory behavior [12].…”