Abstract:
Age-related hearing loss and stroke are both widespread and common among the older population. Research has suggested that there is an increasing possibility that auditory processing disorder prevails following a stroke, especially for those with an underlying and undetected hearing loss. The current study aimed to examine language and auditory processing skills for people following left and right hemisphere stroke. Sixteen participants, twelve with left hemisphere stroke and four with right hemisphere stroke, were recruited for the study. Their language and auditory processing abilities were evaluated using the Western Aphasia Battery-revised, Right Hemisphere Language Battery, Boston Naming test, a dichotic digit test, frequency pattern test and the adaptive Australian Sentence in Noise Test. Basic audiological assessments, including otoscopy, tympanometry, otoacoustic emmissions and pure tone audiometry, were also performed to measure the hearing levels for the participants. The results revealed a wide range of severity in language processing abilities across the participants. The results also showed that all of the participants performed poorly on at least one of the auditory processing assessments, with all sixteen participants performing poorly for the binaural integration task. The results of the study confirmed that auditory processing disorder is present following stroke. The study also suggested the possibility of different perception of tones and numbers after a stroke. There is a need for a more extensive study on auditory processing abilities after stroke to support the current study and to examine in further detail the shift in the comprehension of numbers and tones following stroke.
