title: Central auditory dysfunction associated with exposure to a mixture of solvents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present research was to investigate central auditory functioning in normal-hearing, solvent-exposed subjects compared to normal-hearing subjects without solvent exposure, with a comprehensive test battery of behavioural central auditory functioning procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-six normal-hearing, solvent-exposed subjects and 46 normal-hearing, control subjects were selected to participate in the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  All subjects must present with normal hearing thresholds and absence of history of variables related to the onset of auditory dysfunction. Subjects were evaluated with a test battery comprising pure-tone audiometry (PTA), dichotic digits (DD), pitch pattern sequence (PPS), filtered speech (FS), random gap detection (RGD), masking level difference (MLD), and hearing-in-noise (HINT) tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were performed to compare the mean values of the dependent variables (results for DD, PPS, FS, RGD, MLD, and HINT) between solvent-exposed and control subjects. Age and average hearing thresholds (500-8000 Hz) were included in the analyses as covariates. Significant differences for DD, PPS, FS, and RGD results were found between groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides further evidence of the central auditory dysfunction associated with solvent exposure.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. a.fuente@uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fuente
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McPherson
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hickson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001304:Auditory Diseases, Central / Q000139:chemically induced*; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012997:Solvents / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D012997:Solvents