Benefits of Phoneme Discrimination Training in a Randomized Controlled Trial of 50- to 74-Year-Olds With Mild Hearing Loss

Abstract

Objectives:The aims of this study were to (i) evaluate the efficacy of phoneme discrimination training for hearing and cognitive abilities of adults aged 50 to 74 years with mild sensorineural hearing loss who were not users of hearing aids, and to (ii) determine participant compliance with a self-administered, computer-delivered, home- and game-based auditory training program.Design:This study was a randomized controlled trial with repeated measures and crossover design. Participants were trained and tested over an 8- to 12-week period. One group (Immediate Training) trained during weeks 1 and 4. A second waitlist group (Delayed Training) did no training during weeks 1 and 4, but then trained during weeks 5 and 8. On-task (phoneme discrimination) and transferable outcome measures (speech perception, cognition, self-report of hearing disability) for both groups were obtained during weeks 0, 4, and 8, and for the Delayed Training group only at week 12.Results:Robust phoneme discrimination learning was found for both groups, with the largest improvements in threshold shown for those with the poorest initial thresholds. Between weeks 1 and 4, the Immediate Training group showed moderate, significant improvements on self-report of hearing disability, divided attention, and working memory, specifically for conditions or situations that were more complex and therefore more challenging. Training did not result in consistent improvements in speech perception in noise. There was no evidence of any test-retest effects between weeks 1 and 4 for the Delayed Training group. Retention of benefit at 4 weeks post-training was shown for phoneme discrimination, divided attention, working memory, and self-report of hearing disability. Improved divided attention and reduced self-reported hearing difficulties were highly correlated.Conclusions:It was observed that phoneme discrimination training benefits some but not all people with mild hearing loss. Evidence presented here, together with that of other studies that used different training stimuli, suggests that auditory training may facilitate cognitive skills that index executive function and the self-perception of hearing difficulty in challenging situations. The development of cognitive skills may be more important than the development of sensory skills for improving communication and speech perception in everyday life. However, improvements were modest. Outcome measures need to be appropriately challenging to be sensitive to the effects of the relatively small amount of training performed.

Computer and Internet Interventions to Optimize Listening and Learning for People With Hearing Loss: Accessibility, Use, and Adherence

“…Participants were recruited and took part in in only one study. The studies and the 102 results are described in more detail elsewhere (AT1, Ferguson et al, 2014;AT2, Henshaw & Ferguson, 2014;WMT, Henshaw & Ferguson, 2013;MES, Ferguson et al, in review Nevertheless, access to IT and mobile technologies for the over-55s is increasing, and will 161 continue to increase over the coming years (Deloitte, 2014). There was no evidence that PC …”

“…accessibility to healthcare (Fabry, 2010), with the added advantage of being delivered 50 remotely in patients' homes (Ferguson et al, 2014;Henshaw & Ferguson, 2013). A 51 systematic review of peer-reviewed articles concluded that tele-audiology provided the 52 potential to extend services beyond the audiology clinic, in particular to under-served 53 communities and those with poor accessibility to audiology services (Swanepoel & Hall,54 2010).…”

Proximity Analysis of Web-Based Auditory Training Programs: Toward Listening and Customized Learning Exercises for Aural Rehabilitation

“…Auditory training has been shown to transfer positively to enhanced detection of untrained stimuli and produce prolonged cognitive performance improvements (Sweetow & Sabes 2006;Ferguson, Henshaw, Clark & Moore, 2014). In a collaborative project between the University of Minnesota and Starkey Hearing Technologies, benefits of auditory training using RMQ after amplification were investigated.…”

“…Participants in the control group engaged in active listening to books on tape and were tested later on their listening comprehension. The goal of the study was to evaluate the generalizability of training to the cognitive skill of auditory selective attention (Moore & Amitay, 2007;Green & Bavelier, 2003;Sweetow & Sabes, 2006;Ferguson et al, 2014) in individuals who were first-time hearing aid users.…”

Auditory Learning Using a Portable Real-Time Vocoder: Preliminary Findings

“…That is, despite the gains seen in the measured tasks, hearing-impaired listeners report continuing difficulty with other activities, such as listening in noise or understanding accented speech. While adjustments to the standard training may allow it to promote learning which generalizes to these areas, such generalization across tasks appears so far to be limited in scope (Loebach, Pisoni, & Svirksy, 2009; but see Ferguson, Henshaw, Clark, & Moore, 2014). …”