We tend to think of hearing as a passive action rather than something you actively choose to do. While you may not specifically choose to let sound into your ears, you play an active role in processing the sound into identifiable words or noises. However, if you’re one of the 15% of U.S adults with hearing loss, this skill can quickly go by the wayside.
How Can You Lose Your Ability to Process Sound?
Your brain works like any of the muscles in your body. Just as your arms need regular exercise to stay strong, your brain needs regular input to stay sharp. When you have hearing loss, your brain can “forget” how to process speech over time. Luckily, hearing aids can provide the amplified sound you need to keep your brain in tip-top shape.
If you’ve lived with untreated hearing loss for a prolonged period, your brain may need extra help processing the amplified sounds your hearing aids provide—that’s where auditory training can step in.
How Does Auditory Training Work?
Auditory training offers a pathway to help people improve their listening and communication skills by guiding the brain in better sound processing.
Auditory training typically helps you recognize subtle differences between similar sounds or words, identify where sounds originate, improve the brain’s ability to retain and retrieve auditory details and train it to understand speech despite background sounds. Depending on the specific areas you struggle with, you may benefit from one or more of the following exercises:
- Speech-in-noise training. In speech-in-noise training, you practice listening to sentences with various background noise levels, mirroring real-life situations.
- Phoneme recognition. Phoneme recognition exercises focus on distinguishing between similar words or syllables, like “bat” and “pat.” During these exercises, you’ll practice identifying subtle sound differences, which can significantly improve your auditory discrimination skills.
- Text following. Text following helps develop active listening and comprehension. You might read along with an audiobook or follow a script while listening to the spoken version. By connecting written and spoken language in real-time, this exercise strengthens your understanding of speech and helps bridge any gaps in comprehension.
- Auditory memory and attention training. In auditory memory exercises, you listen to sequences of sounds, words or sentences and practice recalling or summarizing what you heard. This strengthens your attention and memory, helping you follow conversations more effectively.
By using these exercises to improve your auditory processing, you can make the most of the amplified sound your new hearing aids offer. If you’re ready to take the next step in your hearing and communication journey, contact Eastern Oklahoma Ear Nose and Throat – Yale Office today for an appointment with one of our specialists.