The auditory training program consists of a set of computerized
exercises designed to improve the speed and accuracy of auditory
information processing while engaging neuromodulatory
systems involved in attention and reward. The rationale is that, in
order to understand and remember verbal information, the brain
must first generate precise and reliable neurological responses
that represent the frequency, the timing, and the complex sequential
relationships between speech sounds. These exercises
continuously adjust the difficulty level to user performance to
maintain an approximately 85% rate of correct responses. Trials
with correct responses are rewarded with points and animations.
The exercises contain stimulus sets spanning the acoustic organization
of speech. During the initial stages of training in all exercises,
auditory stimuli are processed to exaggerate the rapid temporal
transitions within the sound stimuli by increasing their
amplitude and stretching them in time. The goal of the processing
is to increase the effectiveness with which these stimuli engage
and drive plastic changes in brain auditory systems in which individuals
with schizophrenia exhibit relatively poor temporal responses
(30). This exaggeration is gradually removed so that by
the end of training, all auditory stimuli have temporal characteristics
representative of real-world rapid speech. In each training
session, a participant works with four of six exercises for 15 minutes
per exercise. Compliance is monitored by electronic data upload
following each training session.