Auditory temporal resolution in children with specific language impairment

There are controversies surrounding the issue of temporal auditory processing and specific language impairment (SLI). This article explores the influence of tone frequency on temporal resolution in SLI. The Auditory Fusion Test-Revised (AFT-R) was carried out with 19 children with SLI and 19 control children with normal language development. No between-groups differences in temporal resolution were found for 0.25 and 1 kHz tones, but the SLI group showed poorer temporal resolution at 4 kHz. No relationship was noted between temporal resolution and measures of nonverbal intelligence and language measures. Two subgroups of SLI, one with poor and the other with good temporal resolution, were identified. The SLI subgroup with poor temporal resolution had better frequency discrimination than the SLI subgroup with better temporal resolution. This inverse relationship, not reported before in SLI, can be due to right hemispheric dominance in SLI. However, other possibilities can exist, and it may be speculated that the impaired temporal resolution in a subgroup of SLI is linked more to central neural timing mechanisms than to auditory processing relevant for speech and language development. Copyright © 2006 by Delmar Learning.