Incidence And Prevalence of Central Auditory Processing Disorder in School Going Children

Introduction: Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) involves challenges in processing auditory information within the central nervous system, leading to difficulties in tasks like sound localization, discrimination, and auditory pattern recognition. While much of the research on CAPD has been conducted in Western populations, there is limited data on Tamil-speaking children. The prevalence of CAPD in children without comorbidities is approximately 1.94 per 1000, according to Nagao et al. (2016). Aim of the Study: To determine the incidence and prevalence of CAPD among school-going children using the Screening Checklist of Auditory Processing (SCAP). Objectives: - To identify children at risk for CAPD using SCAP. - To explore the relationship between scholastic performance and SCAP scores across different age groups. - To assess the effect of gender on CAPD incidence. Methods and Materials: The study involved 1007 participants aged 7 to 12 years from randomly selected government and private schools. Participants were divided into six age groups, each with around 167 children, all studying in 2nd to 7th standard with English as the medium of instruction. The SCAP checklist by Yathiraj and Macarenhas (2003) was employed to screen for CAPD in a school-based environment. Results: A retrospective analysis conducted from June 2017 to July 2019 identified 65 children with CAPD, indicating a prevalence rate in the sample. Discussion: CAPD is a neurological disorder that affects the ability to interpret sounds, especially speech phonemes. Due to varying diagnostic criteria, the estimated prevalence of CAPD ranges from 0.5% to 7% of the population. Key words: Central Auditory Processing disorders, school going population, screening checklist of auditory processing