Characterizing Auditory Deficits in Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury: A Principal Component Analysis Approach

PURPOSE: There is currently no consensus regarding an evidence-based assessment protocol for normal-hearing patients with a history of brain injury who report auditory difficulties. This work used a large test battery to identify measures that explained the most variability across participants with and without a history of head injury, to determine relationships between measures, and to explore patterns of performance across participants, with the aim of identifying measures that should be considered in future research on developing clinical assessment protocols for this unique patient population. METHOD: A principal component analysis was conducted on data from 22 self-report, central auditory processing, and cognitive processing measures completed by a sample of 95 participants. Participants included Veterans with a history of blast exposure, Veterans with a history of nonblast mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and a sample of control participants with no history of head injury. RESULTS: Several central auditory processing and self-report measures explained variance in the data set. However, analyses revealed that performance on the behavioral auditory processing tests was not predictive of self-reported auditory and non-auditory symptom severity. A cluster analysis further revealed spread in performance across participants with a history of blast exposure or nonblast mTBI. CONCLUSIONS: Results from the current study underscore the need for a comprehensive, individualized approach to patient care for those with a history of head injury. The measures identified in the current analysis should be investigated in future studies that aim to develop an auditory assessment protocol for this patient population. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.32060232.