A question of time?—Relations between temporal auditory processing abilities and literacy skills over the course of primary school and how they are mediated by phonological processing

The role of temporal auditory processing for literacy development is still under debate. Current temporal auditory processing theories and models assume that relations between temporal auditory processing and literacy are mediated by phonological processing. However, no previous study with unselected children has simultaneously considered temporal auditory processing abilities from different timescales when testing this mediation. Additionally, it remains unclear whether mediation via phonological processing becomes weaker with increasing literacy experience. In the cross-sectional study presented here, German school children from grades 1 to 4 ( N = 277) completed tablet-based tasks measuring rapid auditory processing, rhythmic auditory processing and phonological processing. Alphabetic and orthographic literacy were assessed with reading and spelling tests. Data were analyzed separately for children with early (grade 1 and 2) vs. more advanced (grade 3 and 4) literacy experience using multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM). In early readers and spellers, phonological processing was found to mediate the relations between temporal auditory processing (both rapid and rhythmic) and alphabetic literacy. In more experienced readers and spellers, phonological processing was found to mediate the relationship between rapid auditory processing and orthographic literacy. Direct relations between rhythmic auditory processing and literacy were significant only in early readers and spellers. Direct relations between rapid auditory processing and literacy were found only in more experienced readers and spellers. Thus, the findings indicate that in early literacy development, both rapid and rhythmic auditory processing are linked to (alphabetic) literacy via their effect on phonological processing. These results support key assumptions of temporal auditory processing theories and developmental models. In early literacy development, rhythmic auditory processing—presumably affecting suprasegmental (prosodic) speech processing—appears particularly relevant for literacy. In later literacy development, rapid auditory processing—likely influencing segmental (phonemic) speech processing—shows a stronger connection with literacy, partly mediated by phonological processing.