Aplicabilidade do teste da habilidade de atenção auditiva sustentada - THAAS em campo livre

Int. Arch. Otorhinolaryngol. 2012;16(2):269-277. DOI: 10.7162/S1809-97772012000200017 Review Article Applicability of the free field Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test (SAAAT) Aplicabilidade do teste da habilidade de atenção auditiva sustentada - THAAS em campo livre Mariza Ribeiro Feniman1, Ariane Cristina Sampaio Rissatto2, José Roberto Pereira Lauris3, Maria Fernanda Capoani Garcia Mondelli4. 1) Post-Doctorate in Audiology - Univeristy of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Head of Department of Speech-FOB-USP. Professor, Department of Speech Pathology, FOB / USP. 2) Master’s Degree in Speech Therapy, FOB / USP. Speech. 3) Freedom of teaching. Associate Professor, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Orthodontics and Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry of Bauru, University of Sao Paulo, FOB / USP. 4) Ph.D. in Communication Disorders at HRAC / USP. Professor, Department of Speech, FOB / USP. Institution: Faculty of Dentistry of Bauru - University of Sao Paulo. Bauru / SP - Brazil Mailing address: Mariza Ribeiro Feniman - Octávio Pinheiro Brizola Mall, 9-75 - Vila Universitária - Bauru / SP – Brazil - Zip-code: 17012-901 - E-mail: Article received in April 28, 2011. Article approved in June 25, 2011. SUMMARY RESUMO Introduction: The attention is an underlying neuropsychology function to all the cognitive processes. The auditory deficiency compromises the normal development of the child, modifying diverse auditory abilities, including the attention. Objective: to compare the performance of children in the Test of the Ability of Auditory Attention Support, as for the different forms of application (auricular phones and free field), sort and, application order. Method: 40 children (7 years old) voluntary with typical development had participated, divided in two groups: G1 and G2, composites of 20 children each. The application of the THAAS in the G1 if gave first with auricular phones and after that in free field and the G2 the process was inverse. The evaluation consisted in: specific questionnaire, auditory tests and application of the THAAS. Results: It did not have significant difference how much to the sort. For the THAAS with phones, the G1 presented greater amount of errors of carelessness and total punctuation. For the THAAS in field it had a significant difference of the G2 for the monitoring decrease. How much to the application form, the G1 demonstrated a bigger number of errors when it was used phones. The G2 did not demonstrate difference. Conclusion: It had viability in the application of the THAAS in Free Field, being able to be adopted the same used normative values for the conventional way of evaluation. Keyword: hearing, attention, child. Introdução: A atenção é uma função neuropsicológica subjacente a todos os processos cognitivos. A deficiência auditiva compromete o desenvolvimento normal da criança, alterando diversas habilidades auditivas, incluindo a atenção. Objetivo: comparar o desempenho de crianças no Teste da Habilidade de Atenção Auditiva Sustentada-THAAS, no que se refere às diferentes formas de aplicação (fones auriculares e campo livre), gênero e, ordem de aplicação. Método: participaram 40 crianças (7 anos) voluntárias com desenvolvimento típico, divididas em dois grupos: G1 e G2, compostos de 20 crianças cada. A aplicação do THAAS no G1 se deu primeiramente com fones auriculares e em seguida em campo livre e no G2 o processo foi inverso. A avaliação constituiu-se em: questionário específico, testes auditivos e aplicação do THAAS. Resultados: Não houve diferença significante quanto ao gênero. Para o THAAS com fones, o G1 apresentou maior quantidade de erros de desatenção e pontuação total. Para o THAAS em campo houve uma diferença significante do G2 para o decréscimo de vigilância. Quanto à forma de aplicação, o G1 demonstrou um número maior de erros quando foi utilizado fones. O G2 não demonstrou diferença. Conclusão: Houve viabilidade na aplicação do THAAS em Campo Livre, podendo ser adotado os mesmos valores normativos usados para o modo convencional de avaliação. Palavras-chave: audição, atenção, criança. Int. Arch. Otorhinolaryngol., São Paulo - Brazil, v.16, n.2, p. 269-277, Apr/May/June - 2012. 269 Applicability of the free field Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test (SAAAT). Feniman et al. INTRODUCTION the attention during all the test and answers for a target stimulation previously specified (13). The existence of an auditory deficiency by itself compromises the normal development of a child, a time that the sensorial privation can generate alterations in diverse auditory abilities, including atention (1). Thus, despite carrying children of this type of deficiency are duly inserted in a process of auditory rehabilitation, either making use of device of individual sonorous amplification (AASI) or of the cochlear implantation (IC), beyond the speech therapy, these children can be citizens still to other problems, as those related to the auditory attention. With intention to evaluate this important auditory ability in children who make use of electronic devices, as well as the those that are not collaborators in the use of auricular phones, during the accomplishment of a behavioral evaluation; throughout years of clinical experience with this population, it was thought about verifying the applicability of the THAAS not only using its conventional way. Identifying and to give attention to acoustic and phonetic aspects of the linguistics standards are essential for the acquisition and the development of the language, as much for children deficient normal listeners how much for the auditory ones. With the ability of deficit attention, these aspects can meet wronged, intervening with the pertaining to school, cognitive and social performance of children (2). The attention is a neuropsychological basic function that is underlying to all the cognitive processes. It can be defined as the capacity of the individual to select and to focus its mental processes in some aspect of the internal or external environment, answering predominantly to the stimulations that it are significant and inhibiting answers to excessively stimulus (3, 4). The literature reported that the supported attention and the monitoring are some of the processes that characterize the attention ability. The attention does not constitute an only process. The supported attention is defined as the capacity to keep the attentional focus in one determined stimulation, for a period of time, to execute a task (4, 5). The monitoring is the ability to remain prepared for an intermittent signal. The objective of this work is to compare the performance of children in the THAAS as for the different forms of presentation, with auricular phones (conventional way) and in free field; to the sort and, to the application order, aiming at its posterior application to those that do not allow the rank of auricular phones, that make use of AASI or IC. METHOD This work was develo (...truncated)