Mild hearing loss: performance in the Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test.

Background: hearing loss during childhood is considered a risk factor for developmental delay.

Aim: to verify the performance of children diagnosed with mild hearing loss, conductive and sensorineural, in the Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test (SAAAT). The purpose of the study was to verify if the test is influenced by the presence of hearing impairment.

Method: a clinical study of the SAAAT considering three groups: Group 1 (G1) control group composed by children with normal hearing, Group 2 (G2) composed by children with mild bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and Group 3 (G3), composed by children with mild bilateral conductive hearing loss. Participants were children with ages between 7 and 11 years; 30 children in each group. A prospective study.

Interventions: Pure Tone Audiometry, Acoustic Imittance Measures and SAAAT.

Result: children with sensorineural and conductive hearing loss presented a lower performance in all of the SAAT results when compared to the control group.

Conclusion: the SAAAT was influenced by the presence of mild hearing impairment, considering that the greatest influence was observed in the presence of sensorineural hearing loss.