A case of profound sensorineural hearing loss whose speech discrimination was improved by combination of bibliotherapy and auditory training

Recently, the importance of auditory training to prevent and improve late-onset 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.