Behavioral Tests for Central Auditory Processing Evaluation in the Investigation of Early Manifestations of Cognitive Decline and Dementias: A Scoping Review.

Purpose: This scoping review aimed to identify behavioral tests for central auditory processing (CAP) assessment that can be used to investigate early manifestations of pathological cognitive decline in adults and the older adults. Early detection of cognitive decline and dementias is a strategy for delaying the progression of these clinical conditions.

Method: This scoping review was conducted using various online databases and gray literature sources, including the Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences, PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. Studies were included if they assessed individuals who underwent behavioral tests for CAP evaluation and had completed at least one cognitive test.

Results: A total of 1,190 references were retrieved from the databases, with 151 identified as duplicates. After screening 1,039 articles by title and abstract, eight studies were selected for full-text review, and five were included in the final synthesis. The behavioral tests for CAP evaluation used to investigate preclinical manifestations of cognitive decline and dementia were: Synthetic Sentence Identification With Ipsilateral Competing Message, Staggered Spondaic Word test, Dichotic Sentence Identification, and Dichotic Digits Test. Among these, dichotic tests were identified as having the strongest association with cognitive decline, probable Alzheimer's disease, or dementia.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that dichotic tests are the most frequently utilized behavioral tests for CAP evaluation and serve as valuable tools for detecting early manifestations of cognitive decline and dementias. These tests could play a significant role in the early diagnosis and management of cognitive impairments.