Listening Difficulties in Children With Normal Audiograms: Relation to Hearing and Cognition

Children presenting at audiology services with caregiver-reported listening difficulties often have normal audiograms. The appropriate approach for the further assessment and clinical management of these children is currently unclear. In this Sensitive Indicators of Childhood Listening Difficulties (SICLiD) study, we assessed listening ability using a reliable and validated caregiver questionnaire (the Evaluation of Children’s Listening and Processing Skills [ECLiPS]) in a large (n = 146) and heterogeneous sample of 6- to 13-year-old children with normal audiograms. Scores on the ECLiPS were related to a multifaceted laboratory assessment of the children’s audiological, psycho- and physiological-acoustic, and cognitive abilities. This report is an overview of the SICLiD study and focuses on the children’s behavioral performance. The overall goals of SICLiD were to understand the auditory and other neural mechanisms underlying childhood listening difficulties and translate that understanding into clinical assessment and, ultimately, intervention.