LACE Auditory Training Software We are proud to offer Listening and Communication Enhancement (LACE) software. You can think of LACE as physical therapy for your ears. Most people who have joint replacement surgery expect to undergo physical therapy following surgery in order to effectively use their new joint. The same can be said for auditory training following hearing aid placement. LACE was designed to be used to help patients use their hearing aids more effectively. After using LACE patients report significant improvement in their ability to understand speech in social noise. What is LACE? LACE is an interactive computerized auditory training program for home use. Lace can assist in developing listening and communication skills and strategies that can help compensate for those situations when hearing is inadequate. What is the purpose of LACE? We may "hear" in our ears; but we "listen" with our brain. Hearing aids can help a person detect softer sounds, but they do not necessarily provide good listening skills. Even people with normal hearing can be poor listeners. Good listening skills are one of the components essential for effective communication. Other components include rapid thought processing, auditory memory, use of language skills, and interactive communication strategies. These skills can be damaged both by hearing loss and by the natural aging process. Lace is designed to enhance your ability to communicate by maximizing your listening skills and communication strategies. LACE provides a variety of interactive and adaptive tasks that will help train you to listen and communicate more effectively. LACE training is adaptive, so it is never too difficult of too easy. As you improve, the training intensifies. After a few sessions, you will find yourself conquering difficult listening situations you never imagined possible. LACE 4 marks a major milestone in the development of aural rehabilitation software and includes many new features and expanded functionality. Most notable is the addition of a companion DVD version of LACE packaged with the standard CD-ROM, enabling users without computers to benefit from LACE training by using their TV and any standard DVD player. Users easily navigate the interface using the arrows on the DVD remote. Key Features of LACE: -Home-based, self paced training -Complete training in 20 days -Runs on Windows or MacIntosh computers -Usable by computer novices -Can be used on your TV with DVD or your computer -Helps compensate for hearing loss -Displays daily and overall progress. Additional new features for PC users include flexible and unlimited training options beyond the standard 20 LACE training sessions and a new portable registration process. Actual unsolicited user comments Names hidden for privacy * "This (LACE) is an exemplary program. I am a speech pathologist and was particularly eager to take this program to have a better understanding of the tasks and goals. I have recommended it to a friend who works with seniors, many of whom have hearing loss. It's a good training program with many excellent suggestions interspersed with the tasks. Since I have worn hearing aids for over 40 years and since I taught aural rehab (several years ago), I am well aware of the program suggestions and have put into practice your suggestions. I have recommended this program to several friends who either deny a hearing loss or are not adjusting to their hearing aids and would benefit from the program. In summary, it's an excellent program and should be a "must" wherever possible with first-time hearing aid users." * "I found the LACE training extremely beneficial. I admit that I became frustrated at times (like real life!), but continued to work through that frustration to complete the tasks. Perseverance is the key! I also enjoyed reading the bits of helpful information inter spaced throughout the lessons. I found the topics interesting and appropriate. In addition, utilizing different speakers, (male, female, child) made me aware of my strengths and deficits. The LACE training helped me realize that while watching closed captioning on TV, my brain was not focusing on the speech. I am now trying to change that "passive" listening and concentrate more acutely on the sound while using the CC as backup. Again, thank you for creating a program that is so very helpful. It is quite an adjustment to get used to new hearing aids and having the auditory training to assist me with that process was greatly appreciated." * "I enjoyed doing the Lace program. I found that the hints and information for persons with hearing problems very useful. I become very unhappy in situations where I find it hard to hear what is going on. I really feel that the persons who come in contact with someone with hearing aids should be more educated in how it feels not to be able to understand sometime what is being said. Thank you for this program." * "I really felt it helped me. I learned to tune into every word of a sentence for more understanding. It affirmed I have more problems understanding children than adults. I know I need to work on auditory memory. It taught me how much more acute my listening skills were in the morning than in the late afternoon. That was fun!" * "Have been wearing hearing aids 30 years. For many of those years I would tone out people. Its hard to pay attention which LACE is teaching us to do." * "The training did help mostly by paying more attention to the speaker, the subject and the body language. I did tend to get irritated when the speaker spoke so rapidly no one would understand what they were saying. Of course, that made me lose concentration and miss the next sentence! I realized the best thing to do is relax and LISTEN." * "LACE is terrific. I have been looking for something exactly like LACE since getting my current aids. It has improved my confidence as well as my listening abilities. Its also very elegantly written!" * "I learned much from this training program. Having been more deaf than I imagined for quite some time, I was unaware that I had been missing so much in conversation. This program alerted me to that and I began listening more attentively in these sessions. I enjoyed the tips too as well as learning more about the subjects of conversation."