Investigation of the perceptual and cognitive asymmetry in the auditory system in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
Burçin Akçay, Gonca İnanç, Ata Elvan and 7 others
PMID 34722944WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis scored significantly lower on left-ear auditory tasks than healthy peers, both when listening freely and when instructed to focus on the left ear.
Right-ear performance matched controls, and scoliosis curve type did not change these results.
Key findings
01Patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis had significantly lower left-ear correct responses than healthy controls in the non-forced and forced-left conditions.
02Right-ear responses did not differ significantly between groups in any listening condition.
03Auditory asymmetry scores did not differ between patients with functional 3-curve and 4-curve scoliosis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The control group was very small (10 participants), which limits the reliability of the comparison. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine whether auditory asymmetry contributes to scoliosis or results from it. No functional outcomes or treatment effects were measured; the findings are purely descriptive of auditory processing.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest or funding sources are declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the left-ear deficit as a cause of scoliosis or a target for treatment. The study only shows an association in a small sample and did not test whether addressing this asymmetry improves spinal or functional outcomes.