Evaluating auditory discrimination in infants using visual reinforcement infant speech discrimination (VRISD) and the acoustic change complex (ACC)

Objectives: The study's goal is to test 60 hearing-impaired and 30 normal-hearing infants, both with ACC and behavioural VRISD tests at an age of 3-12 months, and correlate these data with their language ability at 3 years of age. Material and methods: The ACC to 3 contrasts were recorded in the free field at 20 sones (65~70 dB SPL). The stimuli consisted of a spectral-ripple noise (SRN), sibilants /s-z/ and vowels /u-i/. In addition, a VRISD procedure was conducted using /s-sh/, /s-z/ and /u-i/. Results: ACC detection sensitivities in 43 hearing-impaired [22 normal-hearing] infants (90%). VRISD results were poor in both groups (<50% passed). Conclusions: These initial results indicate the ACC could be used to discern between groups, a gradient is present re detection sensitivities, and ACC might be preferred over VRISD for discrimination evaluation.