[Dichotic listening test in Spanish: pairs of disyllabic words].
OBJECTIVE
Spanish dichotic listening tests make use of either monosyllabic words or single syllables. Here we present a dichotic listening test with 19 pairs of two-syllable words, since this type of words is more in accordance with the syllabic structure of the Spanish language.


METHODS
The test was applied to a total of 164 psychology students. Two studies were carried out--one exploratory and the other to obtain test-retest reliability. Responses were obtained with a distinction being made between four visual distractors. In the first study, up to two of the four alternatives could be chosen. In the second study, a single response was imposed and the test was performed twice with a gap of 15 days between sessions.


RESULTS
Significant right ear advantage was observed both in the first study (t(39) = -9.57, p < 0.0001) and in the second (t(37) = -11.75, p < 0.0001). When the sample was separated into right-handed and left-handed subjects, significant differences between their medians were obtained in the first study with respect to the laterality index (t(14) = 2.23, p < 0.04). The test-retest correlation was found to be highly significant (r = 0.88, p < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
The present test appears to be a good indicator of laterality and we have implemented a computer program that allows us to modify the time intervals between pairs of stimuli and to obtain the laterality indexes automatically. Thus, the test can be used in a wide range of clinical populations.
Azañón-Gracia
E
E
GRNC, Parc Científic de Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
Sebastián-Gallés
N
N
D000328:Adult; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013223:Statistics as Topic