A Case of Profound Sensorineural Hearing Loss Whose Speech Discrimination was Improved by Combination of Bibliotherapy and Auditory Training

Abstract

Recently, the importance of auditory training to prevent and improve lateonset auditory deprivation has been reported. Although ideally the training should be performed in cooperation with a speech therapist, a simpler method of auditory training should be investigated. Here we report a case of profound Sensorineural hearing loss whose speech discrimination was successfully improved by bibliotherapy using a book entitled “Brain Training” for a period of one month. The case was a 77-year-old female. She visited our hospital in July 2005 complaining of profound hearing loss in her left ear for 10 years and in her right ear for 3 months. Her speech discrimination was 30% in the right ear and 20% in the left. Informed consent was obtained for her to undertake self-auditory training at home. As homework she was instructed to perform reading drills using a book entitled “Adult Reading Drills That Strengthen The Brain” written by R. Kawashima and to read newspapers aloud at least 15 minutes a day. After one month her speech discrimination was significantly improved both subjectively and objectively. Speech discrimination with her right ear improved from 30% to 60%. The mechanism of this improvement should be investigated in further research.