Temporal auditory processing and the distinctive features of children with phonological disorder

ABSTRACT Purpose: to assess whether there is a relationship between temporal auditory processing skills and altered distinctive features in cases of phonological disorder. Methods: 18 children aged between 6 and 8 years, diagnosed with phonological disorders participated in the research. All children underwent speech-language screening, phonological assessment and the assessment of temporal processing skills through the GIN - Gap in Noise Test, TPF - Frequency Pattern Test and TPD - Duration Pattern Test. The numbers of altered phonemes and distinctive features and the level at which they were in the Implicational Model of Features Complexity were compared with those of the GIN, TPF and TPD tests. The significance level adopted for all statistical tests was 5% (p<0.05). Results: in no comparison and correlation was there statistical significance, but the subjects evaluated showed low performance in temporal auditory processing tasks, according to normative testing standards. Conclusion: in the general analysis, there was no relationship between temporal auditory skills and distinctive traits in the population assessed, even though they had difficulties in temporal auditory processing tasks.