DICHOTIC-LISTENING PERFORMANCES OF PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC EXPOSURE TO ORGANIC-SOLVENTS

The present study was concerned with the clinical utility of dichotic listening in the examination of individuals with ''intermediate'' leve ls of organic solvent exposure (i.e., exposure sufficient to cause per ipheral neurological symptoms and mental status complaints, but not ma nifest solvent encephalopathy). Neuropathological studies on animals a nd humans have indicated that organic solvents often caused injury to subcortical white matter. Because other studies involving patients wit h relatively specific white matter disease have found these patients t o be impaired in dichotic listening, it seemed logical to investigate dichotic listening in solvent-exposed workers. Among solvent-exposed w orkers, dichotic listening was frequently impaired in relation to prev iously established norms or a control group matched for age, education , and stability of employment. Dichotic listening proved far more sens itive than other neuropsychological measures administered. Results hav e implications for both the neuropsychological assessment of solvent-e xposed patients and for the pathophysiology of multiple ''peak exposur es'' to organic solvents in humans.