Auditory processing abilities of children with congenital blindness

Background

Children with visual challenges rely on their hearing ability to accomplish daily tasks more efficiently. Many investigations show changes in the auditory pathway in children and adults with early blindness. It can be hypothesized that the auditory processing abilities of children with congenital blindness will be superior to those of typically developing children without any visual challenges.

Purpose

The current study was designed to compare some of the auditory processing abilities of children with congenital blindness and typically developing children who do not have any visual challenges. Specifically, the study compared the perception of speech in noise, temporal patterning ability, binaural integration ability as well as auditory memory and sequencing abilities of children in two groups.

Research design

It was a prospective cross-sectional study comparing two groups.

Study sample

A total of 160 children, 80 typically developing children without any visual challenges (reference group) and 80 children with congenital blindness, in the age range of 7–11 years, participated in the study.

Data collection and analysis

Pitch pattern test (PPT), perception of speech perception in noise test in Marathi (PSIN-M), dichotic digit test in Marathi (DDT-M), and auditory memory and sequencing test in Marathi (AMST-M) were administered. Independent sample T test and Mann Whitney U test were used to compare the performance of the two groups on these tests.

Results

Children with congenital blindness showed significantly better scores on PPT, PSIN-M, and DDT-M as compared to children in the reference group in all the age groups. A clear trend was not observed on DDT-M.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that children with congenital blindness have better auditory processing, auditory memory, and sequencing abilities compared to typically developing children without any visual challenges.