Stavrinos, Georgios;
(2019)
Effects of Remote Microphone Hearing Aids (RMHAs) on Listening-in-Noise, Attention and Memory in School-Aged Children with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD).
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is characterised by poor Auditory Processing (AP) in the presence of normal hearing. Children with APD have poorer Speech-in-Noise (SIN) skills than their peers and are often reported to have poor attention and Auditory Working Memory (AWM). Management approaches include auditory training and Remote Microphone Hearing Aids (RMHAs). Research on the effects of RMHAs on children with APD is scarce. Some studies claim improvements in SIN performance following RMHA intervention, others suggest that AWM might not be assisted, while the system’s effect on attention remains unexplored. Also, the relationship between types of attention and AP skills has not been adequately explored and APD diagnostic criteria do not routinely include attention measures despite evidence linking the two. This thesis aims to address these gaps in the field through three studies. The first two studies examine the effects of RMHAs on measures of SIN and AWM but also on the novel measures of attention and spatial listening in children with APD using randomised controlled trials. The third study is the first to use correlation analyses to examine the relationship between AP skills and attention in a sample of only APD-diagnosed children. Furthermore, this study looked at a newly proposed APD diagnostic process which included measures of attention with the aim to better inform APD management. Overall, findings from the clinical trials did not find improvements in any of the attention tests following RMHA use for 6 months, while spatial listening was not negatively affected. In the final study, a strong relationship between divided attention and the dichotic digits test (an AP test) was revealed. Finally, the proposed diagnostic procedure provides useful information to the clinician in terms of management, which may potentially better address children’s needs. All findings are discussed in the context of the studies’ limitations.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Effects of Remote Microphone Hearing Aids (RMHAs) on Listening-in-Noise, Attention and Memory in School-Aged Children with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2019. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10072693 |
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