Temporal processing deficits in Hebrew speaking children with reading disabilities

The purpose of this study was to assess to what extent specific reading disabilities and poor phonologic processing in children who read Hebrew, a primarily consonant orthography, are related to central auditory temporal processing deficits (TPDs). Twenty-four Hebrew-speaking children (ages 10-13) with and without reading disabilities were asked to discriminate auditorily pairs of syllables (/ba/ vs. /pa/) that differ by voice onset time (VOT) only. Two paradigms were used, 1 with a short interstimulus interval (ISI) (50 ms) and 1 with a Jong ISI (500 ms). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured in response to the two syllables in an auditory oddball task. Results showed significantly lowered accuracy, longer reaction times, and prolonged P3 latency among the group with reading disabilities compared with the control group. No significant differences were found between the short ISI task and the long ISI task. However, significant correlations were found between the phonologic processing tasks and the short ISI task. These findings in the Hebrew language are consistent with findings from other languages and add support to the central TPD hypothesis of reading disabilities. The discussion highlights how investigating different orthographic systems can deepen our understanding of the role TPD plays in reading.