Auditory Alterations in Children Infected by Human Immunodeficiency Virus Verified Through Auditory Processing Test

Abstract

Introduction The auditory system of HIV-positive children may have deficits at various levels, such as the high incidence of problems in the middle ear that can cause hearing loss. Objective The objective of this study is to characterize the development of children infected by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the Simplified Auditory Processing Test (SAPT) and the Staggered Spondaic Word Test. Methods We performed behavioral tests composed of the Simplified Auditory Processing Test and the Portuguese version of the Staggered Spondaic Word Test (SSW). The participants were 15 children infected by HIV, all using antiretroviral medication. Results The children had abnormal auditory processing verified by Simplified Auditory Processing Test and the Portuguese version of SSW. In the Simplified Auditory Processing Test, 60% of the children presented hearing impairment. In the SAPT, the memory test for verbal sounds showed more errors (53.33%); whereas in SSW, 86.67% of the children showed deficiencies indicating deficit in figure-ground, attention, and memory auditory skills. Furthermore, there are more errors in conditions of background noise in both age groups, where most errors were in the left ear in the Group of 8-year-olds, with similar results for the group aged 9 years. Conclusion The high incidence of hearing loss in children with HIV and comorbidity with several biological and environmental factors indicate the need for: 1) familiar and professional awareness of the impact on auditory alteration on the developing and learning of the children with HIV, and 2) access to educational plans and follow-up with multidisciplinary teams as early as possible to minimize the damage caused by auditory deficits.

Children with HIV: A scoping review of auditory processing skills

“…Following full text review, 37 articles were excluded as they did not meet inclusion and exclusion criteria (Table 1). The remaining five articles [5,23,24,31,32] were retained for this review. Table 2 summarises key characteristics of each article.…”

“…Although the study sample sizes ranged from 15 to 244 children, auditory processing skills were not measured in all the subjects. Three of the studies included control groups [23,24,32], while two studies reported case series [5,31]. The studies were all conducted in urban settings, in developing countries, with three of the studies based in Brazil (South America) and the other two studies based respectively in Tanzania (Africa) and Mexico (North America).…”

“…Binaural interaction: Localisation, as a measure of binaural interaction, was assessed in three studies [24,31,32]. A higher occurrence of abnormal findings in the HIV-infected group, compared to the two uninfected groups, was reported by Matas et al [24,32] while Romero et al [31] reported that localisation difficulties occurred in less than 30% of their participants.…”

“…Binaural integration: One study assessed binaural integration by using the Staggered Spondiac Word Test (SSW) [31]. Although 87% (13 of the 15 participants) of children presented with difficulties, these difficulties were attributed to problems in the areas of attention, memory and auditory figure-ground skills rather than only problems with binaural integration.…”

HIV status and hearing loss among children between 6 and 12 years of age at a large urban health facility in south western Uganda

“…HIV and TB infections are common in sub Saharan Africa and may increase the burden of HL. HIV is known to increase the risk of both peripheral and central hearing loss among the exposed children by causing abnormal auditory processing [7]. However, there is limited research in sub Saharan Africa where the burden of HIV infection is high.…”