An Adaptive Clinical Test of Temporal Resolution

Purpose It has been recommended that diagnostic and screening test batteries for auditory processing disorder (APD) include a measure of temporal gap detection using broadband noise stimuli. Although psychophysical laboratory procedures exist for the measurement of temporal resolution, none are clinically feasible. This study was designed to obtain preliminary data on a new clinical measure of gap detection, the Adaptive Test of Temporal Resolution (ATTR). Method The ATTR, a currently available clinical test (Random Gap Detection Test), and a standard psychophysical laboratory procedure were used to measure gap detection thresholds (GDTs) from a group of 30 young adults with normal hearing. Results Mean ATTR GDTs were 2.2 ms, consistent with GDTs measured using the psychophysical laboratory procedure (3.2 ms) and significantly smaller than those measured using the Random Gap Detection Test (7.0 ms). Conclusions Because it incorporates standard adaptive psychophysical methodology in a computer application that can be used on any desktop computer but does not depend on specialized hardware for application, the ATTR promises to be a clinically feasible addition to the APD test battery.