Use of a self-perception questionnaire for screening auditory abilities in children with behavioral dysphonia.
Ana Carolina Pinto Lemos, Tamy Nathalia Tanaka, Ana Carolina Constantini and 2 others
PMID 39936807WHAT IT FOUND
Parents reported significantly more auditory difficulties in children with behavioral dysphonia than the children did themselves.
High voice symptom scores correlated with high risk for central auditory processing disorder, suggesting parents' reports are a useful screening signal in voice clinics.
Key findings
01Parental assessment of auditory skills indicated a risk for central auditory processing disorder in the group, whereas children's self-assessment did not, with parents reporting worse auditory behavior than the children.
02There was a strong negative correlation between voice symptom severity and auditory skill scores: children with more frequent voice symptoms showed a greater risk for central auditory processing disorder.
03Most children in the sample failed the voice symptom questionnaire, with parents rating all children as having voice symptoms, while children rated themselves as having symptoms in the majority of cases.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was very small (17 children), limiting the generalizability of the findings. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot establish causality between dysphonia and auditory processing risks. Only 14 of the 17 children completed the behavioral temporal auditory processing tests, reducing the data available for those comparisons. The study relied on self-perception questionnaires which are subjective; children's responses may vary by age and maturity, potentially affecting reliability. The exclusion criteria removed children with school difficulties or prior therapy, which may not represent the typical population seen in clinical practice.
Declared interests
The study was funded by FAPESP (#2021/05572-9). No other conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a child's self-report of auditory skills is reliable in this population. Parents reported significantly worse auditory behavior than the children did, and parental scores suggested CAPD risk while children's scores did not. Relying solely on the child's perspective may miss auditory processing concerns in children with dysphonia.