Teste de dígitos no ruído no português brasileiro em escolares: estudo preliminar

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the performance of school-aged children on the Digits in Noise Test in Brazilian Portuguese based on pure-tone thresholds and test application mode. Methods: Cross-sectional and prospective study, approved by the Research Ethics Committee (no. 2525183). The sample comprised 81 school-aged children (8 to 16 years old) who underwent hearing screening with otoscopy, pure-tone threshold audiometry, and tympanometry and were divided into four groups based on auditory status. School-aged children performed the DIN at 70dB SPL in diotic and antiphasic modes, using a Motorola Z3 Play smartphone and intra-aural earphones. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for inter-group analysis, the Wilcoxon test for intra-group analysis in groups 1 and 2, and the Student's t-test for comparing groups 3 and 4. The significance level adopted was 5%. Results: The speech recognition threshold in the noise of the DIN was similar across the entire sample, in both diotic (p = 0.082) and antiphasic modes (p = 0.445). Differences in presentation modes were observed only in groups 1 and 2. Conclusion: The DIN Test was not influenced by pure tone auditory threshold and conductive alterations in both application modes. Only groups with fewer audiological alterations differed between modes. Further research is needed to investigate sociodemographic influences and establish normative data in this population.