AUDITORY DEVELOPMENT IN POLISH INFANTS AND TODDLERS AS ASSESSED WITH THE LITTLEARS<sup>®</sup> AUDITORY QUESTIONNAIRE

Introduction The aim of the study was to assess the development of auditory behavior in Polish infants and young children with normal hearing who were attending childcare facilities. They were considered by their parents or guardians as being typically developing. Material and methods The study participants included parents and other caregivers of 293 children attending various nurseries in Lublin, Poland. The children’s chronological age ranged from 2 to 35 months. The LittlEARS<sup>®</sup> Auditory Questionnaire was used as the assessment tool. Although the tool is designed to assess children up to 24 months of age, it was also used to evaluate somewhat older children to determine whether they had achieved an auditory development level equivalent to at least that of a 2-year-old. Results The study showed that all 25 children up to 12 months of age exhibited faster auditory development than the standard curve. Of the other 268 children 13 to 35 months old, delays were observed in 27% of them and faster development in 34%. Analysis of the responses to individual LittlEARS<sup>®</sup> Auditory Questionnaire items revealed that questions where children commonly encountered difficulties (i.e., “no” was the most frequent answer parents gave) involved questions 8, 14, 31, and 35. Conclusions The LittlEARS<sup>®</sup> Auditory Questionnaire is both user-friendly and reliable for screening assessments, suggesting that standard 12- and 24-month developmental screenings for children may be helpful in identifying auditory problems at an early stage. There is also a need to adapt tools suitable for children over 24 months of age, such as the PEACH questionnaire, into Polish.