Auditory Workout was created by a certified speech and language pathologist for students ages 4–10 who exhibit auditory processing disorders or other related disorders (e.g., receptive language disorder or autism). Auditory Workout is research-based and focuses on improving auditory attention and memory and auditory processing of verbal directions. This engaging, colorful app includes hundreds of audio instructions and the feature that allows users to set background noise (classroom noise).

Children are welcomed by the basketball coach, who encourages them to work hard. Children earn a basketball for each correct response, and when they accumulate enough balls, they are rewarded with a game (a game of catch for younger children or/and basketball for older children).

Auditory Workout allows children to follow increasingly longer and more complex directions and includes more than 13 levels of difficulty. The directions are divided into four categories:

• Basic and Spatial Directions
• Quantitative directions
• Temporal directions
• Conditional Directions

• Enter multiple students
• Change settings
• Select levels of difficulty
• Select auto-scoring
• Select alternate counts for multiple students
• Enable or disable background noise feature
• Enable or disable rewards, the basketball, and/or the games
• Enable or disable feedback sounds
• Track correct and incorrect responses
• E-mail results at the end of the game

Background

Auditory Processing Disorder refers to the inability or the decreased ability to interpret sounds, words, or sentences. Individuals with this condition hear the sounds and the words, but the auditory nervous system does not process them.

Individuals with Auditory Processing Disorder may exhibit the following symptoms:

• Difficulty remembering what was said
• Difficulty following directions
• Difficulty listening in noisy environments
• Easily distracted
• Delayed response to questions
• Inappropriate responses to questions
• Difficulty increasing vocabulary size
• Difficulty learning new information
• Poor academic performance
• Behavioral issues and low self-esteem (Chermak, G.D. 1998)

Treatment of Auditory Processing Disorder

Much research is still needed to understand auditory processing problems and treatment techniques; however, many studies have shown that frequent, challenging, and intense auditory training that targets the specific auditory deficit or deficits present is likely to improve auditory processing. Given our current understanding of language disorders and central auditory processing, techniques that facilitate language competence are likely to improve the auditory processing of language and vice versa (Bellis, 2009).

Auditory Workout implements the above theory as it offers a systematic and intense auditory comprehension program, challenging children’s auditory nervous systems by providing children with opportunities to follow instructions that gradually increase in length, and opportunities to follow increasingly complex verbal directions.

REFERENCES

Chermak, G.D. 1998. “Managing central auditory processing— disorders: Metalinguistic and metacognitive approaches.” Seminars in Hearing 19: 379–392. Bellis, T.J. 2009. “Developing deficit-specific intervention plans for individuals with auditory processing disorders.” Seminars in Hearing 23: 287–295.