Efficacy of a deficit specific auditory training program for remediation of temporal patterning deficits

Interventions for School-Aged Children with Auditory Processing Disorder: A Scoping Review

“…First, for the AT studies, some of the eligibility measures conducted were linked to the mechanism(s) addressed by the interventions. Inclusion criteria for AT studies involved obtaining abnormal results in tests assessing specific AP abilities, as follows: Dichotic listening (Dichotic Digits Test [DDT]) and temporal patterning (PPT) [ 52 ]; Dichotic listening (DDT), temporal patterning (Pitch Pattern Sequence Test [PPST]), and auditory fusion (Auditory Fusion Test [AFT]) [ 53 ]; Temporal resolution (RGDT), dichotic listening (Paediatric Speech Intelligibility—PSI test), and/or (Nonverbal Dichotic Test [NVDT]) [ 72 ]; Dichotic listening only: DDT [ 74 , 81 ]; Persian Randomized Dichotic Digits Test (PRDDT), Persian Competing Words Test (PCWT), Persian Competing Sentences Test (PCST) [ 59 ]; and Competing Words Test (CWT), Randomized Dichotic Digits Test (RDDT) [ 62 ]; DDT with abnormal right ear advantage (REA), temporal patterning (PPST) and selective attention (Monaural Selective Auditory Attention Test [mSAAT]) [ 65 ]; Temporal patterning (Frequency Pattern Test [FPT]) [ 47 ]; Temporal patterning (Persian PST [P-PST]) and dichotic listening (Persian-SSW [P-SSW]) [ 61 ]; Spatial processing (LiSN-S) [ 45 , 46 , 48 ]; Auditory figure ground (AFG test) [ 54 ]; Dichotic listening, temporal patterning and selective memory (Multiple Auditory Processing Assessment [MAPA]), dichotic listening (Spectro-Temporal Modulation (STM) detection tasks) and SIN perception (Consonant–Vowel in Noise [CVN]) and Words in Noise Test [WIN]) [ 60 ]; SIN perception (Monaural Speech Identification Test) [ 55 ]; Temporal patterning (Duration Pattern Test [DPT]) [ 56 ]. …”

“…The above-mentioned conditions listed were not inclusion criteria. Twenty-two studies either reported or assessed normal or average intelligence levels, including measures such as the intelligence quotient (IQ), nonverbal intelligence, or psycho-intellectual abilities (AT: [ 38 , 39 , 46 , 47 , 52 , 53 , 55 , 56 , 60 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 69 , 70 , 81 ]; assistive devices and hearing aids: [ 40 , 41 , 75 , 80 ]; and multimodal interventions: [ 42 , 44 , 67 ]).…”

“…Seven studies examined the impact of dichotic listening training [ 59 , 62 , 65 , 74 , 77 , 78 , 81 ]; two focused on localization and lateralization abilities [ 64 , 66 ]; and three investigated the impact of spatial processing intervention [ 45 , 46 , 48 ]. One examined the effect of singing lessons on pitch and rhythm development [ 49 ], one evaluated musical pitch training [ 47 ], one focused on temporal patterning training [ 56 ], one focused on phonemic training [ 61 ], and nine evaluated the impact of SIN training [ 38 , 39 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 55 , 57 , 58 , 60 , 71 ]. Dichotic listening training.…”

“…Tomlin and Vandali (2019) investigated the effectiveness of musical pitch training to improve temporal patterning abilities in children with temporal patterning deficits. Participants completed a modified version of the aTune musical-pitch training program, an AT during which children engage in activities involving the discrimination and identification of pitch, timbre and instruments [ 47 , 85 ]. Significant improvements in temporal patterning were noted post-training and were maintained 60 weeks after the training.…”

Executive functioning skills of children with listening difficulties

“…Historically, specific bottom–up treatment approaches such as auditory skills training have been recommended for children that are referred for assessment of APD with identified auditory weaknesses (Musiek et al, 2014). However, while targeted auditory training may result in improvements on the specific targeted auditory task, such as the identification of spatial or temporal patterning in sound sequences, this bottom–up approach does not result in improvements in cognitive functioning (Tomlin & Vandali, 2019). This could be founded on the fact that auditory sensory processing at the level of the CANS has little demonstrated relationship to listening in noise or understanding verbal directions (Moore, 2012).…”