LACE AI Pro: Hearing and Brain Training – The Complete Picture

Author: Sandra Lee (BA, BSci, MClAud CCP), Victorian Hearing Audiologist

You may be familiar with getting hearing aids or supporting a family member on that journey. It is a lot to take in and often everything sounds fantastic during your appointment with your audiologist. But real life is messy, noisy and hearing conversations – especially in background noise – can still take effort. At Victorian Hearing, we believe successful hearing rehabilitation requires ongoing support, and this is where LACE AI Pro auditory training comes in.

The Victorian Hearing Difference

As an independent clinic, we’re not tied to any single manufacturer and we don’t work on commission. That matters, because it means every recommendation we make hearing aids, accessories, or a training program is based purely on what will genuinely help you hear and communicate better, not on what’s most profitable to sell. Our approach has always been holistic: a hearing aid fitting is the start of your journey, not the finish line. True rehabilitation involves your brain as much as your ears, which is why we build auditory training into our patient care rather than treating it as an optional extra.

Why We Recommend LACE AI Pro Alongside Your Hearing Aids

New hearing aids are a big investment for many of our clients, one of the most significant health purchases they’ll make. So it’s worth asking: how do you get the absolute most out of them? At Victorian Hearing, our answer is auditory training and specifically, a program called LACE AI Pro.

What Is LACE AI Pro?

LACE AI Pro forms part of Victorian Hearing’s holistic approach to hearing rehabilitation, helping people get the greatest possible benefit from their hearing aids. LACE stands for Listening and Auditory Communication Enhancement. It’s a self-paced, evidence-based auditory training program that works alongside your hearing aids rather than instead of them. It can be downloaded on an app for your smart device or completed on a computer. Where hearing aids amplify and clarify sound, LACE trains the brain to do a better job of processing that sound. This makes following faster talkers, picking words out of background noise, and holding onto what’s said in a conversation for longer. Its AI-powered “Voices” feature even lets you train using the voices of your own loved ones, which research suggests can make listening practice more meaningful and effective.

How LACE AI Pro Works

LACE is delivered through an app on your phone, tablet, or desktop, with more than 10,000 exercises spread across 27 topic areas covering speech-in-noise, working memory, rapid speech, missing-word tasks and speech reading. The recommended plan is 15 minutes a day for at least 30 days, though your audiologist may adjust this to suit your needs. Alongside the exercises, the program includes short lessons on best-practice listening strategies and communication tactics you can use straight away. Importantly, it is also fun! You get to choose topics of interest to learn from, and you get to discover fun facts along the way.

The Evidence Behind LACE AI Pro

Auditory training isn’t a marketing gimmick, it’s an active area of important clinical research. A randomised controlled trial of home-based auditory training found that practicing speech perception with a communication partner produced measurable gains in speech-in-noise understanding and cognition among adult hearing aid users who trained daily with a nominated partner over four weeks1.

A systematic review and meta-analysis in Trends in Hearing specifically examined whether auditory and cognitive training could improve cognitive function in adults with hearing loss, pooling results across multiple randomised trials2. The results found that it is significant for both working memory and overall cognition.

Separately, researchers have shown that working memory training can help everyday listening skills, given the well-established link between cognition and speech understanding in people with hearing loss3. As a result, LACE can offer people with hearing loss a tailored working memory training module in your program.

A review of auditory training apps available to clinicians also underlines why program selection matters. This research evaluated apps against evidence-based criteria for genuine benefit rather than app-store popularity alone and have found app programs can be successfully used as a supplement to auditory training therapy provided in the clinic or for use at home4.

As with any training program, results vary between individuals, and we always set expectations honestly. With the direction of the evidence and what we consistently see in our own patients, the more use of the hearing aid, the more social interactions, the greater the functional benefit perceived. And LACE is a great pairing with well-fitted hearing aids to support this process. With structured auditory training, it gives your brain the best chance to relearn how to listen with confidence.

Curious whether LACE AI Pro is right for you? Speak with your Victorian Hearing audiologist at your next appointment. We’ll help determine whether auditory training should form part of your personalised hearing rehabilitation program.

References
1. Lowe, S. C., Henshaw, H., Wild, J., & Ferguson, M. A. (2023). Evaluation of home-delivered live-voice auditory training for adult hearing aid users involving their communication partners: a randomised controlled trial. International Journal of Audiology, 62(1), 89–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2021.2005834
2. Lawrence, B. J., Jayakody, D. M. P., Henshaw, H., Ferguson, M. A., Eikelboom, R. H., Loftus, A. M., & Friedland, P. L. (2018). Auditory and cognitive training for cognition in adults with hearing loss: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Trends in Hearing, 22.
3. Henshaw, H., & Ferguson, M. A. (2013). Working memory training for adult hearing aid users: study protocol for a double-blind randomized active controlled trial. Trials, 14, 417. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1745-6215-14-417
4. Olson, A., Williams, R., Livingston, E., & Futscher, C. (2018). Review of Auditory Training Mobile Apps for Adults With Hearing Loss. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, SIG 7. https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/persp3.SIG7.12