About Dichotic Listening And Why It Matters

How Dichotic Listening Skills Impact Attention

Dichotic listening is the ability to process different sounds simultaneously presented to each ear. It’s a complex auditory skill that involves both binaural integration (using both ears) and binaural separation (receiving from each ear separately).

Dichotic listening is required in a lot of situations, especially in noisy environments like playgrounds or classrooms.  It’s about being able to discern which is the background noise and tune that out to focus on what needs to be heard.

Selective Attention

For many children – particularly those with auditory processing delays – dichotic listening is challenging, meaning there are lapses. Not picking up parent instructions, while listening to music.  Keeping up with what his friends are saying when noise or voices are coming in from all angles.

What parents might all these lapses in selective hearing, oftentimes it’s selective attention due to an inability to process and prioritize incoming language.

Getting a Dichotic Listening Test

If you suspect an issue, such as a binaural integration deficit or auditory divided attention, tests are available. It all falls under the auditory processing disorder (APD) label. APD testing tends to take a whole-child approach, examining language processing from multiple angles.

A peripheral hearing exam is worth doing, but a central auditory processing evaluation, such as a dichotic listening test, is a better bet. The American Academy of Audiology recommends a range of tests, including the Digits Test.

The Dichotic Digits Test presents pairs of spoken digits or words simultaneously to each ear. For instance:

• The left ear hears “3, 7.”
• The right ear hears “5, 9.”

Participants are asked to report:

1. Words or digits from both ears (split attention).
2. Only those from the attended ear (selective attention).

The findings help researchers understand auditory processing and how the brain filters and prioritizes information. A  Multiple Auditory Processing Assessment or MAPA Dichotic Digits test presents triplets of numbers to each ear simultaneously. The test taker repeats the numbers they hear.

ASHA recommends that the dichotic listening test be repeated to ensure valid results.

So, what are the options if a dichotic listening test suggests an auditory processing issue?

Auditory Processing Skills Can Be Exercised and Improved

If your child has selective attention issues or dichotic listening issues that sometimes make it difficult to focus in background noise, an auditory processing delay is likely. Read about other consequences of APD here.

Gemm Learning offers online auditory processing disorder treatments that address gaps in dichotic listening, selective attention, and other cognitive skills impaired by APD. We treat APD at home with Fast ForWord software and remote oversight.