%0 Journal Article %T Comparison of Auditory Localization Ability between Preschool Bilateral Hearing-Impaired Children and Normal Hearing Children %J Journal of Rehabilitation Sciences & Research %I Shiraz University of Medical Sciences %Z 2345-6167 %A Gohari, Nasrin %A Hosseini dastgerdi, Zahra %A Dehghani, Foozieh %A Negin, Ehsan %A Heidari, Atta %D 2023 %\ 06/01/2023 %V 10 %N 2 %P 100-105 %! Comparison of Auditory Localization Ability between Preschool Bilateral Hearing-Impaired Children and Normal Hearing Children %K Hearing Loss %K sound localization %K Hearing aid %K children %R 10.30476/jrsr.2022.95333.1287 %X Background: Sound localization is a valuable skill whose maturation is influenced by auditory experience and is limited by bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. No study has assessed auditory localization in bilateral hearing-impaired children (BHIC) aged 5-6 years. The present study aimed to investigate the auditory localization skill in children with moderate-to-severe bilateral hearing loss and using hearing aids compared to their normally hearing peers.Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 19 participants aged 5-6 years (60-72 months) with a mean age of 65.31± 3.83 months as the BHIC group and 21 participants aged 5-6 years with a mean age of 60.21±3.02 months as the normally hearing children (NHC) group. The localization ability of both groups was tested in 24 positions with 15-degree intervals by a speaker connected to a laptop and a calibrated speech stimulus named "test." A score of +0.5 for each 15 degrees of error on the right side of the position and -0.5 on the left side of the position were considered.Results: The results revealed a significant difference in the error rates between the two groups in four (out of 24) positions (p<0.05). Differences were not statistically significant in other positions.Conclusion: The BHIC had a defect in the localization skill in some situations. Therefore, localization test and localization training are recommended for these children. %U https://jrsr.sums.ac.ir/article_48497_57354623694196cdb62f108afb573ac8.pdf