Avaliação do Processamento Auditivo
Informativo elaborado e divulgado pela equipe da AUDIVIVA
ATUALIZAÇÃO CIENTÍFICA: FORMAL AUDITORY TRAINING IN ADULT HEARING AID USERS (Treino auditivo formal em usuários de prótese auditiva). Gil D, Iorio MCM. CLINICS 2010;65(2):165-74.
INTRODUCTION: Individuals with sensorineural hearing loss are often able to regain some lost auditory function with the help of hearing aids. However, hearing aids are not able to overcome auditory distortions such as impaired frequency resolution and speech understanding in noisy environments. The coexistence of peripheral hearing loss and a central auditory deficit may contribute to patient dissatisfaction with amplification, even when audiological tests indicate nearly normal hearing thresholds. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to validate the effects of a formal auditory training program in adult hearing aid users with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss. METHODS: fourteen bilateral hearing aid users were divided into two groups: seven who received auditory training and seven who did not. The training program was designed to improve auditory closure, figure-to-ground for verbal and nonverbal sounds and temporal processing (frequency and duration of sounds). Pre- and post-training evaluations included measuring electrophysiological and behavioral auditory processing and administration of the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) self-report scale. RESULTS: The post-training evaluation of the experimental group demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in P3 latency, improved performance in some of the behavioral auditory processing tests and higher hearing aid benefit in noisy situations (p-value < 0,05). No changes were noted for the control group (p-value <0,05). CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that AUDITORY TRAINING IN ADULT HEARING AID USERS CAN LEAD TO A REDUCTION IN P3 LATENCY, IMPROVEMENTS IN SOUND LOCALIZATION, MEMORY FOR NONVERBAL SOUNDS IN SEQUENCE, AUDITORY CLOSURE, FIGURE-TO-GROUND FOR VERBAL SOUNDS AND GREATER BENEFITS IN REVERBERANT AND NOISY ENVIRONMENTS.
Avaliação do Processamento Auditivo em 5 passos 
1) A avaliação deve começar por uma boa anamnese, com a investigação das causas e do impacto das queixas.
2) A bateria de testes deve ser contextualizada à demanda e às capacidades de cada examinado.
3) Ouvir com competição, discriminar e organizar os sons no tempo, localizar os sons, integrar informações recebidas nas duas orelhas e completar informações, são habilidades que devem, sempre que possível, ser avaliadas.
4) A avaliação, quando bem feita, direciona e otimiza o tratamento para melhora das habilidades auditivas.
5) O objetivo não é rotular o paciente! AS HABILIDADES AUDITIVAS PODEM SER TREINADAS E MELHORADAS!