his study compared auditory behavioral and physiological measures among three subject groups: 1) Normal control subjects, 2) subjects who were on a prescribed SSRI for depression, and 3) subjects who were prescribed an SSRI for depression, but were not medicated at the time of testing. Test measures included: Standard audiological tests (audiometry and tympanometry), electrophysiological procedures for analysis of auditory- evoked brainstem and late responses, and standardized behavioral speech tests (SCAN-A, SSI, and the low predictability sentence list of the R-SPIN). Analysis of results indicated a statistically significant increase of group mean amplitude of the ABR peak V, from 15dBnSL to 55dBnSL, in the non-medicated group compared to controls. Also, the non-medicated group scored significantly less favorably than controls on the most challenging listening condition (-20 MCR) of the SSI, in the left ear. Although other test measures indicated consistent differences between these two groups, they were not, however, significant.

This study examined the relationship between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication and auditory measures in clinically depressed women. Experimental subjects were tested in both a medicated and unmedicated condition. Experimental subjects were compared to a normal control group; additionally intrasubject comparison was made within the experimental group. Test measures included: audiometry, tympanometry, otoacoustic emissions, uncomfortable loudness level, masking level difference, SCAN-A, Synthetic Sentence Identification (SSI), and the low predictability section of the Revised Speech in noise (RSPIN). The unmedicated group scored significantly less favorably than the control group on the following tests; SCAN-A (composite, filtered words, and auditory figure ground), R-SPIN (0MCR condition in both the right and left ears). Additionally, the unmedicated group scored significantly less favorably than the medicated group on the SSI (-20MCR condition right ear only) and of the R-SPIN (0MCR condition right ear only). Other test measures indicated consistent trends but did reach significance.

Children with central auditory processing disorders (CAPD) have a normal pure-tone audiogram, however, they have difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise. The present study examined binaural hearing in normal children and those with possible CAPD. Each subject was administered the SCAN or SCAN-A, screening tests for CAPD, to determine whether they were at risk for CAPD. Participants were then subjected to several monaural and binaural speech tasks, in quiet and noise. Spondee words were utilized in each task, under headphone and soundfield conditions.