Performance of Students With Auditory Figure-Ground Disorders Under Conditions of Unilateral and Bilateral Ear Occlusion

Abstract

This study was designed to compare the effects oj unilateral and bilateral ear occlusion on performance of an auditory discrimination task in background noise in students with auditory figure-ground disorders. The results indicated that ear occlusion improved performance in the majority of subjects, and that unilateral occlusion effectively eliminated the auditory figure-ground disorder in most subjects. The results are discussed in terms of the desirability of prescribing unilateral ear occlusion in classroom situations for appropriately diagnosed students who have auditory figure-ground disorders, and in terms of the physiological functioning of the auditory system in figure-ground disorders.

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