Auditory Training in an Elderly Hearing Aid User Using Environmental Sounds, Stories and Questions: A Case Report

Abstract

We have reported one case of improvement in word recognition score (WRS) and sentence recognition score (SRS) in an elderly hearing aid user who had difficulty in communicating with others even after having a hearing aid fitted. Six weeks of training was conducted using environmental sounds, stories, and questions. Auditory training was conducted twice a week in hearing aid fitting room and total training time in each session was 40 minutes, including checking hearing aids, pre-training counseling, auditory training, and post-training counseling. After three weeks of auditory training, the WRSs of the left and right ear with headphone were changed 28% to 48% and 28% to 40%, respectively. After six weeks of training, SRSs in the acoustic room were improved 47.5% to 77.5% with hearing aids on both sides. And the Korean version of profile of hearing aid benefit scores after six weeks of training were 15.3% for easy communication, 62.3% for background noise, 34.3% for aversiveness, and 50.0% for localization except reverberation situation. This study showed that an elderly hearing aid user has improved communication skills, despite the short period of training. In addition, various training tools and methods are required to ensure that the subject does not lose interest in auditory training, and if the duration and place for the auditory training are limited, a training application on a personal computer or smartphone may facilitate auditory training.