Training Regimen
Auditory integration training (AIT) aims to address the sensory problems such as hearing distortions and hyperacusis (oversensitive hearing), which are said to cause discomfort and confusion in persons suffering from learning disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders. These hypersensitivities are believed to interfere with a child’s attention, comprehension, and ability to learn.
The training typically involves the child attending two 30-minute sessions per day, separated by a minimum of three hours, for ten consecutive working days. The child listens via headphones to a program of specially filtered and modulated music with wide frequency range. The program is modified for each child with certain frequencies of sound filtered using an electronic device, which randomly switches between low- and high-pass filtering for random durations between 1/4 and 2 seconds. The filtering device also varies the sound's intensity, creating a modulated effect. The volume is set as loud as possible without causing discomfort. If the listener has shown unusual sensitivities to certain frequencies, these may be filtered out additionally.
The original device for delivering this training, the Audiokinetron or Ears Education and Retraining System (EERS), was banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from importation into the U.S. due to lack of evidence of medical benefit. Although no AIT device has been approved for marketing as a medical device by the FDA, devices used only to aid education are not subject to FDA regulation. Several other unapproved devices are now used to deliver AIT; one example is the Digital Auditory Aerobics (DAA) system, which replaced the Audiokinetron in the U.S., and which contains 20 half-hour CDs containing the output of the banned Audiokinetron, thus getting around the banned use of the original device.
Most AIT practitioners are speech-language pathologists or audiologists and occupational therapist; other practitioners include, psychologists, physicians, social workers, and teachers. No operator training is required for the DAA. However, the lack of proven benefit to clients has led the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to warn its members that they may be found in violation of ASHA's Code of Ethics if they provide AIT services.
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