Temporal resolution in sensorineural hearing loss Resolução temporal em perdas auditivas sensorioneurais

Purpose: To evaluate temporal resolution in adults with mild and moderate sensorineural hearing loss using the Gaps in Noise (GIN) test to determine whether these losses affect the test performance. Methods: Fifty-seven patients between 20 and 59 years of age (30 men and 27 women) were evaluated; these patients had a complete medical history taken and underwent ENT examination, basic audiological evaluation, and auditory screening via the dichotic digits test. The subjects were divided into three groups: G1 (normal hearing), G2 (mild hearing loss), and G3 (moderate hearing loss). The appropriate statistical analysis was performed, and the adopted level of significance was 5%. Results: A significant proportion of men was observed in the group with hearing loss. There were no significant differences in test performance between the groups. However, the control group’s performance was worse than the normality criteria set for young Brazilian adults. The mean gap detection threshold for the total sample was 8.2 ms in both ears, and the mean percentage of correct responses was 49.7% for the right ear (RE) and 50.6% for the left ear (LE). Conclusion: The temporal resolution evaluated by the GIN test was not influenced by mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss either in the gap detection thresholds or in the percentage of correct responses for both ears.