Objective: To systematically review the peer-reviewed literature on electrophysiological outcomes following auditory training (AT) in school-age children with (central) auditory processing disorder ([C]APD).
Design: A systematic review.
Study sample: Searches of 16 electronic databases yielded four studies involving school-aged children whose auditory processing deficits had been confirmed in a manner consistent with ASHA (2005) and AAA (2010) and compared to a treated and/or an untreated control group before and after AT. A further three studies were identified with one lacking a control group and two measuring auditory processing in a manner not consistent with ASHA (2005) and AAA (2010).
Results: There is limited evidence that AT leads to measurable electrophysiological changes in children with auditory processing deficits.
Conclusion: The evidence base is too small and weak to provide clear guidance on the use of electrophysiological outcomes as a measure of AT outcomes in children with auditory processing problems. The currently limited data can only be used to suggest that click-evoked AMLR and tone-burst evoked auditory P300 might be more likely to detect such outcomes in children diagnosed with (C)APD, and that speech-evoked ALLR might be more likely to detect phonological processing changes in children without a specific diagnosis of (C)APD.