Profile and aetiology of children diagnosed with auditory processing disorder (APD).
OBJECTIVE
Auditory processing disorder (APD) is characterised by listening difficulties despite a normal audiogram. APD is becoming ever more widely diagnosed in children, though there is a controversy over definition, diagnosis and aetiology. This study sought to describe presenting features and investigate aetiological factors for children diagnosed with APD compared to those for whom APD was excluded.


METHODS
Medical notes for children referred to a specialist hospital-based APD clinic were reviewed in relation to presenting features and potential aetiological factors.


RESULTS
32 children diagnosed with APD and 57 non-APD children were compared. They reported similar symptoms and similarly had high rates of co-morbid learning problems. No aetiological factor (including history of otitis media, adverse obstetric history or familial history of listening problems) predicted APD group membership.


CONCLUSIONS
Children identified with APD on the basis of commonly used APD tests cannot be distinguished on the basis of presenting features or the aetiological factors examined here. One explanation is that learning problems exist independently of auditory processing difficulties and the aetiological factors do not have a strong causal role in APD. However, no gold standard for APD testing exists and an alternative explanation is that the commonly used APD tests used as selection criteria in this study may be unreliable.
Dawes
Piers
P
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, United Kingdom. Piers.dawes@psy.ox.ac.uk
Bishop
Dorothy V M
DV
Sirimanna
Tony
T
Bamiou
Doris-Eva
DE
D001308:Auditory Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013998:Time Perception