Implementation and evaluation of a Danish test battery for auditory processing disorder in children

Abstract

Objective: This study presents a Danish test battery for auditory processing disorder (APD). The tests were evaluated as to normative cut-off values (pass-fail criteria) and their test–retest reliability. Design: The battery consists of four behavioural tests: the filtered words (FW) test, the dichotic digits (DD) test, the gap detection (GD) test and the binaural masking level difference (BMLD) test. The tests were evaluated through listening experiments on children with no known history of auditory problems. Study sample: The normative cut-off values were obtained from 158 children (75 boys and 83 girls, aged 6–16 years), whereas the test–retest reliability was obtained from 20 children (10 boys and 10 girls, aged 6–11 years). Results: For each of the four tests one to four different cut-off values were determined depending on whether the scores from the two ears and the different age groups could be pooled. For each of the four tests the test–retest reliability was found to be satisfactory. The test–retest reliability was highest for the FW and the DD test. Conclusions: A Danish APD test battery is now available for clinical use with normative data.