CORRELATION BETWEEN BALANCE AND AUDIO REACTION TIME IN CONGENITALLY BLIND CHILDREN AND AGE-MATCHED NORMAL SIGHTED CHILDREN AGED 5-15 YEARS

Objective: A postural control system which is necessary to provide balance requires the complex interaction of several structures such as visual, auditory, proprioception. These systems develop during school age. Since audio reaction time and balance reveals its individual relation in blind children moreover lacks in estimating its correlation collectively. Hence, present study focuses on the correlation between balance and audio reaction time in congenitally blind children and normal sighted children aged 5-15 years. Methods: A correlational study consist of 29 congenitally blind children and 29 age-matched normally sighted children willingly participated in the study. Balance was assessed using the Pediatric Balance Scale, while auditory reaction time was measured using the Modified Drop Ruler Test. Statistical Analysis: A quantitative data was analyzed by InStat software. The balance and audio reaction time were assessed and data was entered into MS Excel sheet and master chart was created. For normality of data Kolmogorov Smirnov test was used. The data was normally distributed so, Pearson correlation test was used. For comparison of two correlations Fisher-Z transformation test was used. Results: The results of the study revealed very significant correlation between balance and audio reaction time in normal sighted and congenitally blind children with p-value 0.0034 and 0.0016. there was fair negative correlation. Conclusion: The study reveals a significant correlation between balance and audio reaction time in both congenitally blind and age-matched normal sighted children aged 5–15 years. As there is fairly negative correlation between balance and audio reaction time signifies that as audio reaction time decreases, balance score increases. Keywords: balance, audio reaction time, pediatric balance scale, congenitally blind children