Assessment of spatial acuity in typically developing children: a comparative study of sound-field and closed-field sound source identification paradigms

Objective: Two main techniques to assess auditory spatial acuity include real-source localisation in the sound-field and virtual-source localisation under headphones.The present study aimed to compare the efficacy of the two assessment paradigms (sound-field localisation and closed-field lateralisation) to measure the spatial abilities of normal-hearing school-aged children. Methods: Spatial acuity was assessed in twenty-seven normal-hearing children aged 7-13 years (M-age: 10.4; SD: 1.6) using two paradigms; 1) localisation test (a sound field paradigm) and 2) virtual auditory space identification test (VASI,a closed-field paradigm). The accuracy scores and error rates were calculated from confusion matrices for each participant in both paradigms. Results: The Wilcoxon sign rank test showed no statistically significant difference between the two tests in the error rates. However, there was a significant difference in the accuracy scores between the two paradigms for azimuths/locations: Right45 degrees, Right135 degrees, Left45 degrees, and Left135 degrees. Spearman correlation showed a mild to moderate positive correlation between all the measures of the two paradigms. Conclusion: The results show that VASI and sound-field localisation paradigms are comparable in assessing spatial acuity in children. A further experiment is warranted to establish its validity in the clinical population as a test for spatial acuity.