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Effect of frequency lowering and auditory training on speech perception outcome

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Abstract

Aim

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of auditory training on speech sound perception tasks in patients with steep sloping high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss using amplification with frequency-lowering hearing aids.

Patients and methods

This study was conducted on 10 adults with steeply sloping high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss using frequency-lowering hearing aids. Pretraining and post-training evaluation tasks were prepared to evaluate the ability to perceive vowels and consonants of Arabic language using lists of consonant-vowel-consonant and vowel-consonant-vowel syllables. Perception tasks included speech sound recognition and discrimination. Arabic exercise tasks were constructed and applied to provide directed training on voiceless consonant speech sounds.

Results

The study demonstrated enhancement in consonant perception using frequency lowering, provided the listeners were trained to conjugate between the newly perceived sounds moved to a functional neurophysiological substrate sensitive to lower frequency sounds.

Conclusion

Auditory training with frequency-lowering hearing aids improves consonant perception in individuals with steep sloping sensorineural hearing loss.

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Correspondence to Mohamed A. Talaat MD.

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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

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Ahmed, R.A., Mourad, M.I., El-Banna, M.M. et al. Effect of frequency lowering and auditory training on speech perception outcome. Egypt J Otolaryngol 31, 244–249 (2015). https://doi.org/10.4103/1012-5574.168360

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/1012-5574.168360

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