Nonverbal dichotic test in patients with epilepsy

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 disorders. Some studies have shown verbal auditory processing disorder in children with epilepsy. Objective To verify the performance of children with epilepsy on a nonverbal dichotic test. Methods Thirty-eight subjects, 23 female and 15 male, ranging from 7 to 16 years of age with neurological diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy, without clinical or imaging evidence of cerebral lesion were evaluated. Patients were divided into two groups: 23 patients diagnosed with partial seizures and 15 patients with generalized seizures. Illiterate children, children with hearing thresholds exceeding the normal range and with brain lesions confirmed either clinically or by imaging tests were excluded from the study group. Results Analysis of the performance of epileptic patients with partial and generalized seizures on the Nonverbal Dichotic Test revealed that the majority of patients with epilepsy showed impairments in the test, with no significant differences related to seizure type, generalized or partial. Although patients with partial and generalized seizures performed similarly, all the epileptic patients showed different performance to a normal population. Conclusions This study revealed a high prevalence of impairments among epileptic patients in relation to nonverbal processing in a dichotic paradigm.