The effect of auditory training in the older adult's lives

Abstract

With aging, some alterations in the perception and detection of sound in the auditory system occur and have repercussions in the communication process. The study of older adult's hearing must include the evaluation of the peripheral and central auditory system with the adequacy of behavioral and electrophysiological techniques that include the evaluation of the Central Auditory Processing in order to implement auditory training programs. The auditory training can be applied in different age ranges and are an excellent option for individuals with hearing loss, auditory device users and older adult with difficulties in speech understanding. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of auditory training on older adult's capacities to understand speech. The population of the study was constituted by 16 subjects aged between 58 and 91 years old, divided into two groups in which the type of auditory training varied in order to evaluate the training influence. All the individuals revealed benefits with the auditory training, once the speech perception in noise showed statistically significant improvement. The auditory training will benefit subjects with hearing loss and difficulties in speech perception, minimizing the impact hearing loss has in older people's lives.