The role of attention in the differentiation of auditory processing disorders from
attention deficit disorders is gaining considerable interest in both the clinical
and research arenas. It has been well established that when attention is directed
to one ear or the other on traditional dichotic tests, performance can be altered.
However, preliminary studies in our laboratory have shown that dichotic fusion paradigms
are resistant to shifts in ear performance associated with changes in attention. The
purpose of this study was to assess the performance of normal listeners on a dichotic
consonant-vowel and a dichotic rhyme (fusion) test. Both test procedures were administered
to 20 young adults in three different listening conditions (free recall, attention
directed to the left ear, and attention directed to the right ear). Results from this
study supported the hypothesis that dichotic rhyme tests are resistant to alterations
in the laterality of attention and have implications for the development of test paradigms
that can be used to segregate attention from pure auditory deficits in the clinical
domain.
Key Words
Attention - auditory processing - consonant vowel - dichotic consonant-vowel - dichotic
listening - ear advantage
