Speech Perception Training in Children: The Retention of Benefits and Booster Training.

Objectives: Speech perception training can be a highly effective intervention to improve perception and language abilities in children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Most studies of speech perception training, however, only measure gains immediately following training. Only a minority of cases include a follow-up assessment after a period without training.

Hearing Health Care Digital Therapeutics: Patient Satisfaction Evidence.

Purpose: A digital therapeutic is a software-based intervention for a disease and/or disorder and often includes a daily, interactive curriculum and exercises; online support from a professional versed in the treatment base; and an online support community, typically active as a social chat group. Recently, the Consumer Technology Association published revised standards for digital therapeutics (DTx) that stipulate that a DTx must be evidence based and founded in scientific evidence showing effectiveness and must be supported by evidence showing improved patient satisfaction and adherence to an intervention. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a DTx could help older adults better adjust to their hearing loss and acclimate to new hearing aids.

Vocabulary Acquisition as a By-Product of Meaning-Oriented Auditory Training for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

Purpose A meaning-oriented auditory training program for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh) was assessed with regard to its efficacy in promoting novel word learning. Method While administering the auditory training program, one of the authors (Elizabeth Mauzé) observed that children were learning words they previously did not know. Therefore, we systematically assessed vocabulary gains among 16 children.

Teaching Children With Hearing Loss to Recognize Speech: Gains Made With Computer-Based Auditory and/or Speechreading Training.

Objectives: Transfer appropriate processing (TAP) refers to a general finding that training gains are maximized when training and testing are conducted under the same conditions. The present study tested the extent to which TAP applies to speech perception training in children with hearing loss. Specifically, we assessed the benefits of computer-based speech perception training games for enhancing children's speech recognition by comparing three training groups: auditory training (AT), audiovisual training (AVT), and a combination of these two (AT/AVT).

Using patient perceptions of relative benefit and enjoyment to assess auditory training.

Background: Patients seeking treatment for hearing-related communication difficulties are often disappointed with the eventual outcomes, even after they receive a hearing aid or a cochlear implant. One approach that audiologists have used to improve communication outcomes is to provide auditory training (AT), but compliance rates for completing AT programs are notoriously low.

Purpose: The primary purpose of the investigation was to conduct a patient-based evaluation of the benefits of an AT program, I Hear What You Mean, in order to determine how the AT experience might be improved.

Tailoring auditory training to patient needs with single and multiple talkers: transfer-appropriate gains on a four-choice discrimination test.

Objective: Our long-term objective is to develop an auditory training program that will enhance speech recognition in those situations where patients most want improvement. As a first step, the current investigation trained participants using either a single talker or multiple talkers to determine if auditory training leads to transfer-appropriate gains.

Design: The experiment implemented a 2 × 2 × 2 mixed design, with training condition as a between-participants variable and testing interval and test version as repeated-measures variables.

Quality of life in children with unilateral hearing loss: a pilot study.

Purpose: The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL).

Method: The study was conducted in 2 stages among children age 6-17 years. In Stage 1, the authors conducted focus groups of children with UHL and their parents to elicit perceptions of how UHL affected the lives of these children.

Professionals with hearing loss: maintaining that competitive edge.

Objectives: The goals of this investigation were to gauge how hearing loss affects the self-perceived job performance and psycho-emotional status of professionals in the workforce and to develop a profile of their aural rehabilitation needs.

Design: Forty-eight participants who had at least a high school education and who hold salaried positions participated in one of seven focus groups. Participants first answered questions about a hypothetical executive who had hearing loss and considered how she might react to various communication issues.

The efficacy of a structured group therapy intervention in improving communication and coping skills for adult cochlear implant recipients.

This paper reports on an evaluation of a structured group therapy intervention for adult cochlear implant (CI) recipients designed to improve overall communication and coping skills. 33 adult CI recipients (14 males, 19 females; mean age 61; 1-14 years since Cl) participated in a 2-day structured group therapy intervention with a follow-up session 4 weeks later. Measures were: communication behaviors (CPHI), assertiveness (Rathus), depression (DASS), and behavior during conversation (Dyalog).