Development of the Persian Version of Dichotic Offset Measure and Evaluation of Its Psychometric Properties in Normal-hearing Children: A Pilot Study

Background and Aim: Buffalo model consists of four Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) categories: decoding, tolerance-fading memory, organization, and integration. Integration is considered as the most complex category. The Dichotic Offset Measure  (DOM) provides valuable information about the organization and integration problems. The present study aimed to develop the Persian version of the DOM (P-DOM) and evaluate its psychometric properties in normal-hearing children. Methods: In this study, 25 normal-hearing children (13 girls) aged 7–12 years participated and were divided into six age groups. The face validity was determined based on the opinions of 15 experts, five children with CAPD, and five normal-hearing children. All children were tested with the Persian staggered spondaic word test, Persian phonemic synthesis test, and the Persian randomized dichotic digit test. Results: The results showed the high face validity of the P-DOM. No significant differences were observed between the scores of girls and boys (p=0.394 for the right non-competing, p=0.623 for the right competing, p=0.155 for the left competing, p=0.066 for the left non- competing, p=0.174 for the total score, and p=0.701 for the reversals). Significant differences were observed in the main scores of P-DOM test among the age groups. The Spearman test showed a high test-retest reliability (r>0.69). Conclusion: As a preliminary study it seems that the P-DOM has good validity and reliability to be used in normal-hearing children, but it needs further research with larger sample size. Keywords: Auditory processing; dichotic offset measure; dichotic listening; integration deficit