Central auditory nervous system assessment in children with a history of otitis media

Author(s)

Leticia Reis Borges

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Ciências Médicas
• Defense date: 2017-07-27

Examining board members

Maria Francisca Colella Santos; Edilson Zancanella; Sérgio Tadeu Martins Marba; Liliane Desgualdo Pereira; Carla Gentile Matas

• Advisor: Maria Francisca Colella Santos; Jorge Rizzato Paschoal

Abstract

Introduction: the presence of otitis media in childhood may result in changes in the auditory processing information. Behavioral and electrophysiological evaluations contribute to verify the functioning in the central auditory nervous system. Once detected a failure in decoding information, auditory training is applied in order to activate the neural circuitry for beneficial changes in auditory behavior and central nervous auditory system. Objectives: to analyze the central auditory nervous system function through behavioral and electrophysiological tests in children with a history of otitis media and subsequent bilateral tubes placement surgery and analyze the results of behavioral and electrophysiological evaluation after an auditory training program. Methods: the participants were divided into three groups between eight and 14 years old: control group (CG) consisted of 40 children with no history of otitis media; otitis media group (OM) consisted of 50 children with documented history of otitis media and undertook a surgery for bilateral tubes placement and auditory training group (ATG) consisted of 20 children who performed a formal auditory training. All children completed audiological evaluation (audiometry, speech audiometry and immitance audiometry), behavioral evaluation (tests: dichotic digits, synthetic sentence identification with ipsilateral competing message, gaps-in-noise, frequency pattern and dichotic consonant-vowel) and electrophysiological (Auditory Brainstem Response and Long Latency Evoked Potential). The participants who had two or more abnormal tests in the behavioral evaluation of Central Auditory Processing were invited to participate in an auditory training program and were subsequently reassessed. Results: The OM group showed significantly poorer performance (p<0.001) than the CG for all auditory abilities applied. The results in the Auditory Brainstem Response revealed significant latency delays and reduced amplitude (p<0.05) of waves III and V. The measures in the Long Latency Evoked Potential Auditory showed significant latency delays of potentials P2, N2 and P300 in children with a history of otitis media (p<0.05). After the auditory training program, the ATG showed considerable improvement in all behavioral tests and significant latency reduction in the measure of waves III, V, III-V and P300 (p<0,05). Conclusion: The results demonstrate the negative effect of otitis media in the auditory abilities and electrophysiological measures in children with a history of otitis media. The present study also reveals the effectiveness of the auditory training program as shown at the better performance in auditory abilities and reduced latencies of Auditory Evoked Potentials (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/15672-4 - CENTRAL AUDITORY NERVOUS SYSTEM ASSESSMENT IN CHILDREN WITH HISTORY OF OTITIS MEDIA
• Grantee: Letícia Reis Borges
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate