AUCKLAND HEARING & EAR HEALTH BLOG 

The use of remote microphone hearing aid systems reduced listening stress as measured by salivary cortisol and provided a range of benefits for children with ASD.

10-week use of remote microphone hearing aid systems by adult patients with stroke may lead to benefits in unaided speech in noise perception. The findings may indicate auditory plasticity type changes and require further investigation.

Studies of the effects of amplification with remote microphone hearing aid systems for children with auditory processing disorder or dyslexia consistently show therapeutic as well as assistive benefits from the amplification.

The PhD thesis research of Dr Joan Leung, Adviser: ASD at SoundSkills APD Clinic, showed that children with ASD can improve their communication skills through training to better appreciate prosody, the subtle changes in speech intonation and stress that denote emotion. Use of remote microphone hearing aid systems assisted the prosody perception training and were beneficial to the children in school.

Measurement of acoustic reflexes is an objective (physiological) test as distinct from behavioural tests used for diagnosing APD. Reduced amplitude acoustic reflex functions in children suspected of having APD provide objective evidence of atypical function in the central auditory nervous system in these children.

Colleagues at the National Acoustic Laboratories in Australia developed this evidence-based training game to improve ability to hear in noise. The game aspect of the software has since been revised to make it more appealing and it is now marketed as ‘Sound Storm’.

Principles of auditory training for APD.