PURPOSE: to analyze children and adolescent performance in plain temporal resolution hearing skills based on the following variables: age, gender, complaint and speech pathology diagnose. METHOD: the survey had 400 subjects, between 4 and 14-year old, evaluated from July 2006 to July 2010. Selection procedures were anamnesis and hearing processing tests : memory for verbal sequences (MSSV) and non verbal in sequence (MSSNV). Data were explored using SPSS 1.2. To analyze data Pearson's Chi-Square Test was used, within a 5% significance level. The study was carried out after obtaining necessary approvals from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais's Research Ethics Committee. RESULTS: from the 400 subjects, 262(65.5%) were male and 138 (34.5%) female. 138 patients(34.5%) showed worse results in MSSV, 109 (27.5%) in MSSNV. There was no statistically significant difference between genders. It was possible to note statistically significance when crossing results from MSSV and MSSNV and the patients' complaints: speech disorders, voice disorders, reading or writing skills. It was also possible to find statistical association when crossing speech pathologist diagnosis and hearing processing tests: voice disorders, cognitive aspects and language functions. Test results get better with advanced chronological age. CONCLUSIONS: auditory temporal hearing processing is fundamental for communication abilities; and subjects with speech pathology alterations diagnoses have worse results in MSSNV and MSSV when compared with normal subjects.
Hearing; Auditory Perception; Child; Adolescent