Sound Storm

The research and development arm of Hearing Australia (NAL) had developed an effective software platform (LiSN and Learn) that successfully remediates SPD over a 10-week period. The issue was that to affect this change a child had to visit NAL, a single laboratory in NSW, for an astonishing 1 hour a day, 5 days a week, for 10 weeks for the deficit to be resolved. We needed to create a home health care solution that was not only accessible to a national needs base but engaging to ensure that the children completed the then, arduous program.

We developed the Sound Storm SPD remediation app and its supporting online clinician control centre - the combination of an auditory training program that users’ play at home and, a dashboard for clinicians to monitor the child’s progression throughout. The game itself features a multi-layered reward mechanic providing feedback, daily unlocks and weekly rewards that open new worlds and progress the rich story narrative to ensure engagement for the duration of the program. Importantly, the reward mechanic is driven by the auditory training algorithm with reward and progression activated when the algorithm detects the required auditory improvement.

Children suffering from SPD, (believed to be as high as 4% -7% of school-aged children in Australia), struggle to meet their potential as the deficit affects their ability to process sound, impacting language and literacy skills, and contributes to decreased attentiveness, anxiety, and isolation throughout the learning process. Through our expanded home health platform, we are now treating between 50-100 school-aged children every day, Sound Storm has a lasting positive impact as it helps children overcome these challenges. Clinical studies have shown incredible results, with 98% of SPD affected children who complete the program to be remediated of SPD.

Q: What is Spatial Processing Disorder? A: When kids can hear but aren’t taking in information. Spatial Processing Disorder (or more accurately “Deficit”) is a type of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). It is the inability to make use of the direction that sound is coming from. In a noisy environment where sound is coming from multiple directions – such as in a classroom – a child with Spatial Processing Disorder will struggle to distinguish or understand a voice that is right in front of them. That’s because their brain has trouble filtering out non-essential sounds. Working with a wealth of clinical research and expertise, we developed Sound Storm – an innovative application designed to remediate Spatial Processing Disorder in school-aged children. Sound Storm wraps the science of a clinical remediation algorithm around a fun and compelling game – one that combines multiple reward mechanics with a rich and captivating narrative. While progressing through the game, children who present with Spatial Processing Disorder are challenged to use spatial and binaural cues (the inter-aural timing and intensity differences which cue where sounds are coming from) to listen to target speech while filtering out distracting background noise