Comparison of two tests of auditory temporal resolution in children with central auditory processing disorder, adults with psychosis, and adult professional musicians.

Objective: Evaluate auditory temporal resolution threshold outcomes across three different populations.
Design: Two commercially available tests of auditory gap detection (Random gap detection (RGDT) test, and Gaps-in-noise (GIN) test) were administered to all participants.
Study Sample: Adult professional musicians (APM) (N = 11, age range 28-61 years); children with central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) (N = 22, age range 7.5-17 years); and first episode psychosis patients (FEP) (N = 17, age range 18-48 years).
Results: It was not possible to calculate a threshold for the RGDT for 13 of 22 children with CAPD and for 7 of 17 adults with FEP due to response inconsistency. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) excluding cases that produced inconsistent RGDT results showed that only RGDT thresholds differed across groups (F = 8.73, p = 0.001). Three t-tests comparing test means within group revealed statistically significant differences between the gap detection thresholds obtained with the RGDT vs. the GIN for each group. No significant correlations were seen between RGDT and GIN.
Conclusion: Lower/better gap detection thresholds and smaller standard deviations were obtained using the GIN in all three groups. Lack of correlation between the two tests suggests that they may measure different processes.