A three‐phase psychoacoustic assessment of learning disabled subjects

Abstract

A three‐phase assessment paradigm was implemented to evaluate areas of auditory and visual perceptual integration and processing by a heterogeneous group of 35 learning disabled subjects ranging in age from 4 to 37 years. Phase I involved testing peripheral auditory acuity, phase II tested central auditory processing, and phase III evaluated cognitive integration of auditory and visual sensory information. Subtest analysis was performed to identify the test material most sensitive to identification of perceptual impairment. Several diagnostic profiles emerged from the test data, and will be discussed in regard to relevance in selecting the assessment battery most appropriate for testing auditory and visual sensory perception of the learning disabled.