title: The Effect of Age and History of Recurrent Otitis Media on Dichotic Listening and Verbal Memory in Children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the possible effects of recurrent otitis media (ROM) in early childhood on binaural processing and verbal memory in school-aged children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred eleven children, including 31 children with and 180 children without a history of ROM, were examined. A dichotic digit test (DDT) and a forward and backward digit memory span test (DMST) were administered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant difference was observed between age groups among ROM-free children. The ROM-positive group earned significantly poorer results than the ROM-free group in all measurements, except for the right DDT (rDDT) score. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between the DDT and EA scores with both DMST scores in the ROM-free group. The correlation between the rDDT and forward DMST scores was not significant in the ROM-positive group, and no significant correlation was observed between the EA score and either DMST score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support that a history of OM in early childhood based on a parental survey of children is associated with differences in DDT and DMST outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Research Center (RRC), Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran jafari.z@iums.ac.ir zahra.jafari@uleth.ca.|Department of Basic Sciences in Rehabilitation, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran.|Canadian Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jafari
authors.affiliation: NEWSHA Hearing Institute, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malayeri
authors.affiliation: NEWSHA Hearing Institute, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Elahe
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bahramian
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001308:Auditory Perceptual Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D012008:Recurrence
keywords: binaural processing; dichotic listening; recurrent otitis media; verbal memory