There is a strong interest in audiology to develop means to improve hearing, especially for people with daily difficulties with speech understanding. Auditory training is one potential approach. It is relatively affordable and can be completed by patients on their home computers or tablets. A growing body of evidence suggests that training is effective. In particular, training regimens that emphasize auditory processing in high-cognitive-load situations appear to improve speech-in-noise perception. Trainings that force listeners to make sound-to-meaning connections engage brain plasticity mechanisms, which can fine-tune the nervous system’s auditory processing machinery. A proof-of-concept study is described.

 

Kraus_WhiteSchwoch_HJ_Jan2019