N.G. Campbell

Management of auditory processing disorders

Hearing is one of the cornerstones of human communication. The term ‘Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)’ refers to a hearing disorder resulting from impaired brain function. Diagnosis and management of APD requires a multidisciplinary approach, given the potential impact of APD on listening, communication and academic outcomes, and considering the frequent comorbidity of APD with related language and learning difficulties. Intervention strategies can be divided into five main categories, namely environmental modifications, signal enhancement strategies, teacher/speaker based adaptations, formal and informal auditory training, and compensatory strategies. While outcome studies – other than single case studies – are lacking for informal auditory training and compensatory strategies, these are low-cost procedures that have been long employed in childrens education. There is some recent evidence to suggest that formal auditory training by means of computerized games leads to improvements in phonological awareness and educational performance in these children. However, further research is needed to understand how and why intervention works and which is the most cost-effective intervention for individual cases.

Computer‐based auditory training (CBAT): benefits for children with language‐ and reading‐related learning difficulties

This article reviews the evidence for computer‐based auditory training (CBAT) in children with language, reading, and related learning difficulties, and evaluates the extent it can benefit children with auditory processing disorder (APD). Searches were confined to studies published between 2000 and 2008, and they are rated according to the level of evidence hierarchy proposed by the American Speech–Language Hearing Association (ASHA) in 2004. We identified 16 studies of two commercially available CBAT programs (13 studies of Fast ForWord® (FFW) and three studies of Earobics) and five further outcome studies of other non‐speech and simple speech sounds training, available for children with language, learning, and reading difficulties. The results suggest that, apart from the phonological awareness skills, the FFW and Earobics programs seem to have little effect on the language, spelling, and reading skills of children. Non‐speech and simple speech sounds training may be effective in improving children’s reading skills, but only if it is delivered by an audio‐visual method. There is some initial evidence to suggest that CBAT may be of benefit for children with APD. Further research is necessary, however, to substantiate these preliminary findings.