The use of technology in the rehabilitation of central auditory processing disorder: a scoping review

Silva, Sanmara de Andrade; Araújo, Layze de Santana; Lima, Daviany Oliveira; Rosa, Marine Raquel Diniz da

doi:10.1590/2317-6431-2024-2987pt

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Literature Review • Audiol., Commun. Res. 30 • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-6431-2024-2987en linkcopy

The use of technology in the rehabilitation of central auditory processing disorder: a scoping review

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Purpose To present scientific evidence related to the use of technology in the rehabilitation of central auditory processing disorder.

Research strategy The review was structured based on the international guidelines (PRISMA-ScR). PCC (Population, Concept, and Context) strategy was used to define the research question and inclusion criteria. Population: individuals with central auditory processing disorder; Concept: hearing rehabilitation program; Context: use of technology.

Selection criteria Included studies focused on individuals diagnosed with CAPD. They addressed auditory rehabilitation through technologies, such as auditory training programs, software, or other technological tools. Only clinical and intervention between 2019 and 2025 were considered. Articles needed to be available in English, Portuguese, or Spanish.

Results The initial search retrieved a total of 478 articles, After removing 5 duplicate articles, 473 records remained for the subsequent stage. During the selection phase, 239 records were excluded after analyzing the titles, and subsequently, 89 records were eliminated after reading the abstracts only 8 studies remained after exclusion based on the criteria.

Conclusion Technologies are emerging as effective tools for enhancing the auditory rehabilitation process, promoting neural plasticity, and improving central auditory skills. The auditory training programs, software, and applications analyzed show positive results in most studies, demonstrating their ability to adapt to users' specific needs and promote improvement in auditory performance.

Keywords:
Information technology; Auditory perception; Acoustic stimulation; Program; Auditory perceptual disorders

DATABASE	SEARCH STRATEGY CARRIED OUT IN MAY 2024
SciELO	(“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Program”) AND (“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Information Technology”) AND (“Auditory Perceptual Disorders”)
PubMed/MEDLINE	(“Information Technology”) AND (“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Program”) AND (“Auditory Perceptual Disorders”)
Scopus	(“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Telerehabilitation” AND (“Auditory Perception Disorders”) AND (“Program”) AND (“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Information Technology”) AND (“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Auditory Perceptual Disorders”)
LILACS/VHL	(“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Information Technology”) AND (“Program”) AND (“Auditory Perceptual Disorders”) AND (“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Telerehabilitation”) AND (“Auditory Perception Disorders”)
Cochrane Library	(“Auditory Perceptual Disorders”) AND (“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Program”) AND (“Information Technology”) AND (“Auditory Perception”)
Open Gray	(“Information Technology”) AND (“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Program”) AND (“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Auditory Perceptual Disorders”) AND (“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Telerehabilitation”) AND (“Auditory Perception Disorders”)
Google Scholar	(“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Auditory Perception Disorders”) AND (“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Telerehabilitation”) AND (“Acoustic Stimulation”) AND (“Auditory Perception”) AND (“Program”) AND (“Information Technology”) AND (“Auditory Perceptual Disorders”)

Author and year of publication	Title	Type of study	Technology used	Auditory training sessions	Stimulated skills	Methodological design	Outcome
Brasil and Schochat(¹¹), 2018	Effectiveness of auditory training using the Programa de Escuta no Ruído (PER) software in schoolchildren with auditory processing disorder and low academic performance	Intervention research	Programa de Escuta no Ruído (PER) - Software	12 sessions of 50 minutes each	Perception and discrimination, visual closure, figure-ground and visual memory	Eighteen children aged 8 to 10 years, of both genders (13 boys and 5 girls), participated in this study. The pre-intervention evaluation consisted of a basic audiological assessment (meatoscopy, acoustic immittance, pure tone and vocal audiometry), an auditory processing assessment (speech in noise, PSI, SSW, frequency pattern), and a school performance test, which comprehensively assesses fundamental skills for school performance in the areas of reading, writing, and arithmetic.	There was no statistically significant difference between the pre-intervention assessment and the reassessment of auditory processing after placebo training, but there was a statistically significant difference between the pre- and post-auditory training conditions.
Calarga et al.(¹²), 2018	Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of a listening in noise auditory training software to Brazilian Portuguese	Pilot study	SoftwareCanadian Logiciel d'Écoute dans le Bruit – LEB	14 to 18 sessions of 45 minutes each	Sensory perception of the auditory signal also stimulates cognitive and linguistic skills, such as memory, attention, phonological awareness, lexical access, auditory comprehension and interpretation	Forty-two schoolchildren aged 9 to 10 years participated in this study. All subjects underwent a hearing screening with a pediatric audiometer and were reassessed with the compressed speech test – disyllabic words – 70% compression, and answered a quantitative assessment questionnaire on the LEB.	The questionnaire revealed that the LEB was well-received and stimulating, providing new learning opportunities. The GT showed significant improvements compared to the GC.
Boaz and Biaggio(¹³), 2020	Performance in computerized auditory training	Longitudinal, comparative, clinical and experimental study	Software- Active Listening	12 sessions of 30 minutes each	Figure-ground, temporal resolution and patterning, binaural integration and separation, and auditory discrimination	The sample consisted of seven children, aged between 7 years and 8 years and 11 months, of both genders. The initial assessment for sample composition consisted of the following procedures: general history taking, visual inspection of the external auditory canal, pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, acoustic immittance measurements, and behavioral assessment of the CAP.	It was not possible to verify a significant difference between the pre- and post-training periods using the software's own evaluation stage, showing the need for further research studies to verify the use of this evaluation tool in a clinical environment.
Luís et al.(¹⁴), 2023	Auditory Processing Intervention Program for school-aged children – development and content validation	Cross-sectional, exploratory and descriptive study, with a quantitative approach	Auditory Processing Intervention Program - PIPA	Each game/task presents approximately 10 to 15 consecutive stimuli, and if the child achieves 75% accuracy, they can advance to the next level. The number and duration of sessions were not specified.	Auditory discrimination, auditory attention, auditory memory, closure, figure-ground; binaural separation, binaural integration, and binaural fusion	The first stage consisted of developing the program and its instruction manual, which included objectives, activities, procedures, materials, reinforcement, instructions, and verbal stimuli for the auditory skills of auditory discrimination, auditory attention, auditory memory, closure, figure-ground, binaural separation, binaural integration, and binaural fusion. The second stage consisted of content validation by two expert panels who analyzed the program using a questionnaire. Content validity was calculated using the content validity index.	The study allowed the development and validation of an intervention program in auditory processing, with verbal stimuli, selected according to strict linguistic criteria, but without the presence of acceptability and effectiveness.
Jutras(¹⁵), 2018	Listening in noise training in children with auditory processing disorder: exploring group and individual data	Exploratory study	Hearing training program in noise-Logiciel d' ecoute dans le bruit	13 sessions of 30 minutes	Auditory attention, auditory discrimination, auditory memory, auditory closure and temporal resolution	Ten children with auditory processing disorder underwent an auditory training program in noise, and six children with auditory processing disorder comprised a control group. Before and after training, participants were tested on sentence identification in noise and auditory evoked late-latency responses.	Hearing in noise may improve with training for children with auditory processing disorder. However, this training program may be beneficial for some children with auditory processing disorder, but not all. More data are needed to verify individual-level trends.
Moreira et al.(¹⁶), 2021	Acoustically uncontrolled cognitive and auditory training for elderly population: a case study	Case study	SoftwareeArena®	Six 50-minute sessions	Attention, memory, figure-ground for verbal sounds, temporal ordering and resolution, auditory closure, executive functions and motor praxis	The study was carried out in three stages: (1) selection of materials, including existing materials and others created by the authors; (2) analysis by expert judges, for consensus regarding the skills evaluated and type of training; (3) application of the protocol in a clinical case, with a battery of tests for pre- and post-intervention evaluation, consisting of cognitive and auditory evaluation (behavioral and electrophysiological).	The subject of the clinical case obtained improvements after the intervention and the effectiveness was verified through behavioral tests of central auditory processing, cognitive screening and long-latency auditory evoked potential.
Skarzynski et al.(¹⁷), 2023	The Stimulation of Polymodal Sensory Perception by Skarżyński (SPPS-S): comparison ofstationary and remote therapy results	Intervention research	Skarżyński's Polymodal Sensory Perception Stimulation - Telerehabilitation program	Sessions lasting 5 to 15 days for 2 or 3 hours.	Temporal discrimination and resolution, binaural integration and separation	The data used to evaluate the effectiveness of SPPS-S-based therapy included the results of 100 patients who received remote SPPS-S therapy compared with the results of 100 patients who underwent therapy in a specialized center. The therapy typically consists of three levels: passive listening to specially modified sounds, relaxation, multimedia and psychoeducational games, and microphone work.	The results confirm the high effectiveness of Skarÿyÿski's Polymodal Sensory Perception Stimulation, both in stationary form and implemented remotely.
Vendruscolo et al.(¹⁸), 2023	Cognitive Auditory Training: Comparative Impact of Telerehabilitation and In-person Training	Comparative study	Online Cognitive Auditory Training Program	10 web sessions	Auditory closure, selective attention, binaural integration and separation	The sample consisted of 23 children aged 7 to 9 years, of both genders, divided into two groups: Group I - 13 children undergoing telerehabilitation and Group II - 10 children undergoing auditory training in a soundproof booth. The instruments used were: Pediatric Speech Intelligibility Test (PSI) in ipsilateral competitive messages (ICM condition); Dichotic Digit Test (DD) in binaural integration and separation skills in auditory separation and integration skills.	The data from this study show that the intervention through the Online Cognitive Auditory Training Program proposed and applied to school-age children contributes to the development and improvement of figure-ground auditory skills through selective attention, figure-ground skills for verbal sounds in the process of sustained attention and selective attention, and binaural integration as it explores cortical reorganization and plasticity.
Sakai et al.(¹⁹), 2020	Auditory abilities stimulation in preschoolers	Prospective, analytical and interventional	Informal therapy using CDs with recorded sounds.	8 sessions	Sound localization and memory	To evaluate the effects of the informal auditory training program intervention, the following procedures were performed pre- and post-intervention: meatoscopy, tympanometry and simplified assessment of central auditory processing.	Comparison of preschoolers' performance in the test and retest revealed significant improvements in all auditory skills assessed. Preschoolers performed better in sound localization and worse in sequential memory of nonverbal sounds in both the test and retest.

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Academia Brasileira de Audiologia Rua Itapeva, 202, conjunto 61, CEP 01332-000, Tel.: (11) 3253-8711 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revista@audiologiabrasil.org.br

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[1] Subtitle: SSW = Alternating Disyllabic Word Listening; PSI = Synthetic Sentence Test; GT = Trained Group; GC = Control Group; CAP = Central Auditory Processing; CD = Compact Disk