CONTEXT:

Auditory processing during childhood may be altered if there is any predisposing factor during the course of development. Neurological disorders are among the risk factors for auditory processing impairment. From this perspective, epileptic children present such a risk factor and could present auditory processing dysfunction.

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate central auditory processing in epileptic patients using the Staggered Spondaic Word Test (SSW) in order to verify whether these patients presented auditory disorders and whether the type of crisis partial or generalized played a role in the occurrence and type of disorder.

SETTING:

Tertiary care hospital.

SAMPLE:

Thirty-eight children and adolescents, ranging from 7 to 16 years old, with a diagnosis of epilepsy divided into two groups: 23 patients with partial crisis and 15 patients with generalized crisis.

MAIN MEASUREMENTS:

Performance in the Staggered Spondaic Word Test versus epileptic crisis type (partial or generalized).

RESULTS:

The majority of epileptic patients showed central auditory processing disorders. There were no differences in relation to crisis type. Both groups showed similar performance, although the results observed for these patients differ from what is obtained with normal populations. With regard to response bias, there were also no differences in performance between subjects with partial or generalized seizures. All possible disorders were found in both groups, without the prevalence of one specific disorder over the other.

CONCLUSIONS:

This study revealed a high prevalence of disorders among epileptic patients in relation to processing partially overlapped verbal sounds in a dichotic paradigm