Development of the short version of the auditory processing test and classification of the test results

Abstract

 The auditory processing test (APT) was developed to identify the symptoms of auditory processing disorder (APD/LiD), in which patients have difficulty in hearing conversations despite showing normal results in conventional hearing tests, such as standard pure tone audiometry. However, it takes a total of about 3 hours to perform all of the published APTs, which is burdensome for both patients and medical institutions. We attempted to reduce the time required for APT by identifying test items that are most frequently found to be abnormal in patients with APD/LiD. Based on this information, we proposed a shorter version of the APT by removing items with overlapping objectives and those with extremely low standard values due to excessive difficulty. APD/LiD were classified for according to items that fell below the standard values in this abbreviated version of APT. We found that patients with suspected APD/LiD could be evaluated more quickly by focusing on the following tests: history taking or screening tests for developmental disorders and psychiatric disorders, FAPC, Obuchi 's SSQ, standard pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry at 60 dBSPL, and the short version of the APT.