Test–Retest Reliability of Mismatch Negativity and Late Discriminative Negativity Response in Children With Listening Difficulties

The aim of the study was to determine the test–retest reliability of MMN and LDN recorded to simple speech contrasts in children with listening difficulties. MMN and LDN responses were recorded from Fz and Cz electrodes for a /da/-/ga/ contrast twice within a 10-day period. To extract MMN and LDN, auditory-evoked responses to /ga/ stimuli presented alone were subtracted from the responses to /ga/ presented within an oddball sequence. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to determine test–retest reliability of MMN and LDN. Eighty-five children aged 7.0–12.8 years were grouped into four clusters; Cluster 1 included children with global difficulties (n = 34); Cluster 2 had children with poor auditory processing but relatively good word reading (n = 19); Cluster 3 had poor auditory processing, memory and attention skills but relatively good nonverbal intelligence and language skills (n = 14); and Cluster 4 had poor auditory processing and attention but relatively good memory skills (n = 18). At Visit 1, MMN and LDN were detectable at Cz in only 42% and 21% of participants, respectively. The ICC for the four clusters for MMN ranged from 0.36 to 0.76; LDN ICCs were 0.21–0.54. MMN was most replicable (71%) for children with listening difficulties in Cluster 3 with good nonverbal intelligence and language. The results do not support the clinical utility of MMN or LDN for objective assessment of auditory discrimination. Although MMN had better test–retest reliability, overall detectability was poor. Better detectability is required for any clinical utility in children.