Long-term follow-up of Egyptian adolescents and young adults with Auditory Processing Disorders (APD)

Abstract

Objective: To study the long-term follow up of young adolescents and adults formerly diagnosed with central auditory processing disorders. Design: An Arabic version of the University of Cincinnati Auditory Processing Inventory questionnaire (UCAPI) was developed and standardized on normal Arabic speaking adolescents and adults. It was applied to patients with auditory processing disorders (APD) in order to evaluate the long-term outcome of APD subjectively. Moreover, psychophysical central auditory tests(Arabic speech in noise test, Arabic dichotic digit test, pitch pattern test, auditory fusion test and auditory memory tests were used as Objective measure for monitoring long term outcome. Results: Standardization to the developed Arabic version of UCAPI questionnaire was done in the control group. Comparing scores of the study and control groups, independent t test showed highly statistically significant differences on all questionnaire categories. Normal composite score of psychophysical central retest results in the study group was 63.3%. Conclusion: APD is a life-long disorder. In spite of the marked improvement of the central test results, patients show residual functional deficit as evidenced by the questionnaire. The Arabic version of UCAPI Questionnaire is a good and efficient tool diagnosing and monitoring APD in adolescents and adults.