Contralateral suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in children with auditory processing disorder.

This study concerns contralateral white noise suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) in children with auditory processing disorder (APD). Fifty-one children between 7 and 11 years were assigned to 1 of 3 experimental groups: those without auditory complaints (n = 15), those with APD who scored high on a standardized test (n = 20) and those with APD who scored lower on the same test (n = 16). For all groups TEOAE suppression was determined in both linear and nonlinear acquisition mode. The results provide evidence that abnormal TEOAE suppression was significantly more common in the APD groups than in the control group. Contralateral suppression of TEOAE is an additional tool for assessing the efferent pathway in children with APD. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel.