Effect of Temporal Pattern Training on Specific Central Auditory Processes

Abstract

Direct remedial training has been considered a feasible way to bring about improvement in the perception of acoustic signals in children with central auditory processing disorders [(C) APD]. The present study aimed to test the effect of temporal pattern training on different central auditory processes in children with (C) APD. Ten children, aged 8 to 13 years, who had poor temporal patterning skills, were recruited for the study. Five of the children, who formed the experimental group, underwent temporal pattern training with material that was developed. Five children, who did not receive training, served as the control group. Baseline responses, obtained on all the children for five processes (temporal patterning, temporal resolution, auditory separation, binaural integration and auditory memory and sequencing) were compared with the response obtained after 19 – 25 sessions of the training in the experimental group. In the control group it was obtained 3 – 4 weeks after the baseline evaluation. Following training, Wilcoxon signed rank test revealed a significant difference in scores in the experimental group on the tests that tapped temporal patterning and auditory memory and sequencing. No such difference was seen in the control group. In addition, Mann Whitney U test showed a significant difference in the scores on these two processes between the two groups in the second evaluation but not in the first evaluation. Thus, the study highlighted that temporal pattern training not only resulted in an improvement in process that was directly targeted (temporal patterning) but also in a process that was not directly targeted (auditory memory & sequencing).