Relating self-reported auditory difficulties, suprathreshold auditory processing, and cognition after brain injury

The Portable Automated Rapid Testing (PART) app increases access to psychophysical tasks that are not typically available outside of specialized laboratory settings. PART contains a wide array of suprathreshold auditory and cognitive processing measures that can be completed in a short amount of time, making it attractive to audiologists who are interested in clinically assessing different aspects of auditory function. This may be particularly useful for testing normal-hearing patients with auditory complaints that are not well predicted by standard audiometric tests, such as those with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). To begin exploring this possibility, this study aimed to identify whether performance on a battery of PART tests is predictive of auditory complaints in participants with (n = 27) and without (n = 28) a history of mTBI. Regression modeling was used to determine relationships between self-reported auditory difficulties and performance on measures of spectrotemporal modulation detection, frequency modulation detection, spatial release from masking, as well as memory and attention. Findings contribute to our understanding of the effects of mTBI on auditory processing. The importance of integrating remote testing platforms into research on understudied patient populations and of interdisciplinary collaboration with clinicians will also be discussed.