Background. Assessment of sentence-level auditory comprehension can be
performed with a variety of tests varying in response requirements. A
brief and easy to administer measure, not requiring an overt verbal or a
complex motor response, is essential in any test battery for aphasia.
Objective. The present study examines the clinical utility of receptive
language indices for individuals with aphasia based on the Comprehension
of Instructions in Greek (CIG), a variant of the Token Test, and the
Greek version of PPVT-R. Methods. Normative data from a large community
sample of Greek adults aged 46-80 years was available on both measures.
A word-level-independent measure of auditory comprehension was computed
as the standard score difference between the two tests and used to
compare patients with and without comprehension deficits as indicated by
their Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination profile. Results and
Conclusions. Indices of internal consistency and test-retest reliability
were very good. Education and age effects on performance were
significant, with the former being stronger. The potential clinical
utility of differential ability indices (contrasting sentence-and
word-level auditory comprehension tests) is discussed
