PURPOSE: to evaluate the auditory processing on telemarketing operators towards their auditory decodification. METHODS: there were evaluated 20 subjects from 18 to 35 years old, both genders, with six hours a day work journey, and until five years as an operator, users of monoauricular headsets and without previous exposition to occupational noise. This group shows auditory thresholds in normal pattern, type A timpanometry, and auditory reflect. A questionnaire was applied to collect some data related to their complains, habits, and auditory sensations, and tests of filter speech processing were carried out, Random Gap Detection Test (RGDT) and Masking Level Difference (MLD). RESULTS: the analysis by percentage showed that all the subjects (20 to 32-year old on average) showed characteristic complaints of auditory processing disorder. In the used tests we observed 45% RGDT and 25% MLD alteration. There was one association of the altered MLD test with the aspect of work performance. CONCLUSION: the evaluated subjects suggests that the telemarketing operators may show auditory processing disorders with a probable compromising of temporal resolution and binaural interaction abilities that were altered in a considerable portion of these subjects.
Auditory Perception; Speech Perception; Audiology
