AIM: To assess results in the named conditions of the Duration Pattern Sequence test (DPS) of older adults and determine any correlation with their scholarity and hearing status. The study was conducted in the Laboratory of Hearing Aids at the Service of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Care from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. Thirty-one participants, aged 60-87 years, were classified by total years of schooling and hearing status. They were administered the DPS in the named conditions in free field and their scores were analyzed. Illiterate subjects had an average score of 26.64%; subjects who did not complete elementary school, 45.81%; subjects who completed elementary school, 46.62%; subjects who did not complete high school, 88.33%; subjects who completed high school, 87.5%; and college graduates, 95%. The average score of subjects with normal hearing was 88.52%; subjects with mild hearing loss, 54.32%, subjects with moderate hearing loss, 34.04%, and subjects with moderately severe hearing loss, 28.86%. CONCLUSION: We confirmed that the educational level achieved correlated positively with the score on the DPS. Hearing loss correlated negatively with the score. This highlights the importance of intervention with these subjects in order to minimize difficulties arising from hearing deficits.
