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Auditory rehabilitation of Brazilian children with auditory processing disorder

Le sommaire ci-dessous est présenté dans la langue de la demande soumis par les demandeurs du concours SCR-CALA.

This is a first collaboration between the department of Audiology from the Université de Montréal and from the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. The project aims to examine the efficacy of an auditory training program in children with auditory processing disorder (APD). These children have normal hearing, but they experience difficulty in understanding speech in noisy environment. Twenty Brazilian children with APD will participate in the study: ten children will undergo to a listening in noise program twice a week for 13 weeks using software and ten children will not be exposed to this program. Measures will be taken in all children before and after the training program as well as three months after the end of the training:

1. auditory measures;
2. measures of cortical activity related to sound stimulation; and
3. measures of the daily life activities with questionnaires.

It is expected that the program will be beneficial for the children with APD on some aspects of their life.

On a long-term basis, this project, as part of a larger intervention program, should influence the policies related to the services provided to these children in order to give them the opportunity to fulfill their social roles and practice their daily life activities as any of their peers without APD. This is a hearing health care issue to be considered in a global heath program to insure that children with APD have access to intervention.