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. Participants completed a computerized six-week auditory training program wherein they heard either the speech of a single talker or the speech of six talkers. Training gains were assessed with single-talker and multi-talker versions of the Four-choice discrimination test. Participants in both groups were tested on both versions.

Study Sample: Sixty-nine adult hearing-aid users were randomly assigned to either single-talker or multi-talker auditory training.

Results: Both groups showed significant gains on both test versions. Participants who trained with multiple talkers showed greater improvement on the multi-talker version whereas participants who trained with a single talker showed greater improvement on the single-talker version.

Conclusion: Transfer-appropriate gains occurred following auditory training, suggesting that auditory training can be designed to target specific patient needs.