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OBJECTIVE:To analyze auditory processing test results in children suffering from otitis media in their first five years of age, considering their age. Furthermore, to classify central auditory processing test findings regarding the hearing skills evaluated.METHODS:A total of 109 students between 8 and 12 years old were divided into three groups. The control group consisted of 40 students from public school without a history of otitis media. Experimental group I consisted of 39 students from public schools and experimental group II consisted of 30 students from private schools; students in both groups suffered from secretory otitis media in their first five years of age and underwent surgery for placement of bilateral ventilation tubes. The individuals underwent complete audiological evaluation and assessment by Auditory Processing tests.RESULTS:The left ear showed significantly worse performance when compared to the right ear in the dichotic digits test and pitch pattern sequence test. The students from the experimental groups showed worse performance when compared to the control group in the dichotic digits test and gaps-in-noise. Children from experimental group I had significantly lower results on the dichotic digits and gaps-in-noise tests compared with experimental group II. The hearing skills that were altered were temporal resolution and figure-ground perception.CONCLUSION:Children who suffered from secretory otitis media in their first five years and who underwent surgery for placement of bilateral ventilation tubes showed worse performance in auditory abilities, and children from public schools had worse results on auditory processing tests compared with students from private schools.

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. Methods. The participants were divided into two groups between eight and 14 years old: control group (CG) consisted of 40 children with no history of otitis media; experimental group (EG) consisted of 50 children with documented history of otitis media and undertook a surgery for bilateral tubes placement. All children completed audiological evaluation (audiometry, speech audiometry, and immittance audiometry), behavioral evaluation (tests: dichotic digits, synthetic sentence identification with ipsilateral competing message, gaps-in-noise, frequency pattern), and electrophysiological evaluation (Auditory Brainstem Response, ABR, Frequency Following Response, FFR (verbal), and Long Latency Auditory Evoked Potential, LLAEP). Results. The EG group showed significantly poorer performance (p<0.001) than the CG for all auditory abilities studied. The results revealed significant latency delays and reduced amplitude (p<0.05) of waves III and V for ABR; significant latency delay was seen of potentials P2, N2, and P300 for LLAEP; significant latency delays and reduced amplitude (p<0.05) were observed for FFR in children with a history of otitis media. Conclusion. The results demonstrate negative effect of otitis media in the auditory abilities and electrophysiological measures in children with a history of otitis media.

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Background and ObjectiveThe auditory cortex modulates auditory afferents through the olivocochlear system, which innervates the outer hair cells and the afferent neurons under the inner hair cells in the cochlea. Most of the studies that investigated the efferent activity in humans focused on evaluating the suppression of the otoacoustic emissions by stimulating the contralateral ear with noise, which assesses the activation of the medial olivocochlear bundle. The neurophysiology and the mechanisms involving efferent activity on higher regions of the auditory pathway, however, are still unknown. Also, the lack of studies investigating the effects of noise on human auditory cortex, especially in peadiatric population, points to the need for recording the late auditory potentials in noise conditions. Assessing the auditory efferents in schoolaged children is highly important due to some of its attributed functions such as selective attention and signal detection in noise, which are important abilities related to the development of language and academic skills. For this reason, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of noise on P300 responses of children with normal hearing.MethodsP300 was recorded in 27 children aged from 8 to 14 years with normal hearing in two conditions: with and whitout contralateral white noise stimulation.ResultsP300 latencies were significantly longer at the presence of contralateral noise. No significant changes were observed for the amplitude values.ConclusionContralateral white noise stimulation delayed P300 latency in a group of school-aged children with normal hearing. These results suggest a possible influence of the medial olivocochlear activation on P300 responses under noise condition.

Introduction Otitis media (OM) is considered one of the most common reasons patients seek medical care in childhood. The fluctuating nature of hearing loss in cases of OM leads to irregular sound stimulation of the central auditory nervous system. Objectives To analyze the long-latency auditory-evoked potential (LLAEP) by verbal and nonverbal sounds in children with a history of OM in the first six years of life. Methods A total of 106 schoolchildren participated in the study, 55 females and 51 males, aged between 8 and 16 years, who were divided into 3 groups: the control group (CG), the bilateral experimental group (BEG), and the unilateral experimental group (UEG). All children underwent a complete audiological evaluation (audiometry, logoaudiometry and immitance testing) and an electrophysiological evaluation (LLAEP with toneburst stimulus – LLAEP-TB, and LLAEP with speech stimulus – LLAEP-S). Results Both study groups (BEG and UEG) presented a statistically lower performance (p < 0.005) when compared with the CG regarding all of the electrophysiological tests with the prolongation of the latency values and decrease in the amplitude values: LLAEP-TB (BEG: latency - N1, P2, N2 [females] and P300, amplitude - N1 and P2), LLAEP-S (BEG: latency - P2 and N2 [females], amplitude - P2 /UEG: latency - P2 and P300, amplitude: N1 and P2). Conclusion Children who had suffered secretory OM in the first six years of life and who had undergone myringotomy for the placement of a ventilation tube, either unilaterally or bilaterally, presented worse performance in their electrophysiological responses to verbal and nonverbal LLAEPs.