Reliability testing of temporal tests for auditory processing

Abstract

Introduction: The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of three temporal processing tests for auditory processing on typically developing Maltese children. Additionally, the research highlighted preliminary trends of temporal processing skills across age, gender and between ears. Methodology: 16 participants comprising of 8 boys and 8 girls between the ages of 7;00 years and 9;11 years were recruited for the study. The study evaluated test-retest reliability of the Duration Pattern Test (DPT), the Frequency Pattern Test (FPT) and the Gaps-In-Noise (GIN) test across a time interval of 7-9 days. Furthermore, inter-list reliability for the GIN test was also evaluated. Data Analysis: The gathered data was analyzed statistically in order to compare the mean scores obtained at time one (T1) with mean scores at time two (T2) for each test. Furthermore, correlation coefficients between T1 and T2 were calculated to investigate the reliability of all three tests. Results: Overall results indicated no statistical differences between T1 and T2 for the DPT and FPT tests. Moderate and significant correlations between T1 and T2 for the two respective tests were noted, thus indicating an overall moderate reliability for the DPT and FPT tests. Results of the GIN test indicated good inter-list reliability for both approximate gap thresholds (ATh) and percentage scores. However, with regards to test-retest reliability, the GIN test demonstrated better reliability when analyzing percentage scores, as a statistically significant difference and a weak nonsignificant correlation were noted between T1 and T2 for the ATh scores. Upon analysis of the temporal tests between independent groups, results indicated one marginal statistical difference between age groups and the DPT. No other significant differences were noted between ears, gender or age groups for all tests. Conclusions: These findings tentatively suggest moderate reliability of temporal tests. However, further large scale research studies are required to determine whether a larger group with extended age range could strengthen the reliability of temporal processing tools.