Dichotic listening training following neurological injury in adults: a pilot study

Abstract

Purpose: Injury to the dominant left brain hemisphere can lead to specific language deficits such as aphasia, or to the cognitive processes that support language such as attention and working memory. Language is heavily supported through the auditory modality, which is a key area of deficit in acquired language disorders, and recovery of auditory processing is a prerequisite to recovery of other language modalities. A specific auditory processing deficit that has been identified following neurologic injury is dichotic listening. Some researchers have suggested that dichotic listening can be strengthened through the use of a dichotic listening training paradigm, although the impact of this training for adults with neurological injury is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine whether dichotic listening training improved dichotic listening performance as well as auditory comprehension in individuals with neurological injuries.Method: Five individuals with a history of acquired language deficits who met specific inclusion and exclusion criteria participated in the dichotic listening training for four to six weeks. Dichotic listening and language comprehension skills were evaluated pre- and post-training.Results: Results indicated all participants progressed through a range of dichotic listening tasks during training, and four of the five individuals improved on at least one of the dichotic listening tests post-treatment. All of the participants demonstrated some improvement in auditory processing/comprehension of complex commands.Conclusions: Dichotic listening training has the potential to positively influence dichotic listening and auditory comprehension skills in adults with neurological injury.