Gaps-in-Noise test: gap detection thresholds in 9-year-old normal-hearing children.
OBJECTIVE
To establish the standard criteria for the Gaps-in-Noise (GIN) test in 9-year-old normal-hearing children; to obtain the mean gap detection thresholds; and to verify the influence of the variables gender and ear on the gap detection thresholds.


METHODS
Forty normal-hearing individuals, 20 male and 20 female, with ages ranging from 9 years to 9 years and 11 months, were evaluated. The procedures performed were: anamnesis, audiological evaluation, acoustic immittance measures (tympanometry and acoustic reflex), Dichotic Digits Test, and GIN test. The results obtained were statistically analyzed.


RESULTS
The results revealed similar performance of right and left ears in the population studied. There was also no difference regarding the variable gender. In the subjects evaluated, the mean gap detection thresholds were 4.4 ms for the right ear, and 4.2 ms for the left ear.


CONCLUSIONS
The values obtained for right and left ear, as well as their standard deviations, can be used as standard criteria for 9-year-old children, regardless of ear or gender.
Undergraduate Program in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, School of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Carolina Finetti
CF
Marculino
Camila Maia
CM
Rabelo
Eliane
E
Schochat
D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006320:Hearing Tests / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors