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Original Article

Auditory rehabilitation for interaural asymmetry: Preliminary evidence of improved dichotic listening performance following intensive training

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Pages 84-97 | Received 27 Feb 2007, Published online: 07 Jul 2009
 

Abstract

Children with dichotic left ear deficits received intensive training in phase I and phase II clinical trials designed to establish the efficacy of directly training dichotic listening. Dichotic verbal material was presented in the sound field with intensity adjusted separately for each speaker. Output from the right-sided speaker was initially 20–30 db HL lower than for the left-sided speaker, resulting in excellent performance in the left ear. Intensities were adaptively adjusted throughout training in 1, 2, and 5-dB steps in order to keep performance high across dichotic tasks. In both phase I (n=8) and phase II (n=13) trials, children demonstrated significant gains in dichotic left ear performance after training. In phase II, children also demonstrated significant gains in right ear performance. Overall results from the two trials support the feasibility of this training approach for improving a larger than normal interaural asymmetry on dichotic listening tasks. Significant improvements in language comprehension and word recognition in phase II suggest that this type of training may also facilitate language skills in some children.

Abbreviations
SCAN-C=

Test for auditory processing disorders in children-revised

APD=

Auditory processing disorder

REA=

Right-ear advantage

LPFS=

Low pass filtered speech

FPT=

Frequency pattern test

SRT=

Speech reception threshold

C-TOPP=

Comprehensive test of phonological processing

BLD=

Bilateral deficit

LED=

Left-ear deficit

Abbreviations
SCAN-C=

Test for auditory processing disorders in children-revised

APD=

Auditory processing disorder

REA=

Right-ear advantage

LPFS=

Low pass filtered speech

FPT=

Frequency pattern test

SRT=

Speech reception threshold

C-TOPP=

Comprehensive test of phonological processing

BLD=

Bilateral deficit

LED=

Left-ear deficit

Sumario

Niños con déficit dicótico del oído izquierdo, recibieron entrenamiento intensivo en pruebas clínicas en fase I y II, diseñadas para establecer la eficacia del entrenamiento directo de la audición dicótica. Se les presentó material verbal dicótico en campo libre, con intensidad separadamente ajustada en cada altoparlante. La salida del altoparlante del lado derecho fue inicialmente de 20–30 dB HL menos que la del izquierdo, resultando en un excelente rendimiento en el oído izquierdo. Las intensidades fueron adaptativamente ajustadas a través del entrenamiento en pasos de 1, 2 y 5 dB con objeto de mantener un alto desempeño durante las tareas dicóticas. Tanto en las pruebas de la fase I (n = 8) como en las de la fase II (n = 13) los niños demostraron ganancias significativas en el desempeño dicótico del oído izquierdo después del entrenamiento. En la fase II los niños también demostraron ganancias significativas en el desempeño con el oído derecho. Los resultados globales de las dos pruebas, apoyan la viabilidad de este enfoque de entrenamiento para mejorar una asimetría interaural mayor de lo normal en tareas de escucha dicótica. La mejoría significativa en la comprensión del lenguaje y en el reconocimiento de palabras en la fase II, sugiere que este tipo de entrenamiento puede también facilitar las habilidades de lenguaje en algunos niños.

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