Auditory skills hierarchy
Last updated
The auditory skills hierarchy is the sequence of listening skills, from detecting sound to understanding speech, used to teach and track listening development.
Topic: Vision and hearing
In plain terms
The four main levels are detection (is there a sound?), discrimination (are these sounds the same or different?), identification (what is the sound or word?) and comprehension (understanding meaning in conversation or a story). Students with hearing aids or cochlear implants often move through the levels with practice, though skills overlap.
How it shows up in an IEP
Listening goals can be written at the student's current level: "will identify a named item from a set of 4 by listening alone in 8 of 10 trials." Moving to harder levels makes clear objectives.
Example
A preschooler with a new cochlear implant first responds to environmental sounds, then tells apart one- and two-syllable words, then picks the named toy from three.
Related terms
- Cochlear implantA cochlear implant is a surgically implanted device that stimulates the hearing nerve directly, giving access to sound for many people with severe hearing loss.
- Hearing aidA hearing aid is a small, worn device that makes sounds louder and clearer for a person with hearing loss.
- Ling Six Sound checkThe Ling Six Sound check is a quick listening test using six speech sounds to confirm a student can hear across low to high pitches.
- Receptive languageReceptive language is the ability to understand language: words, sentences, directions, questions and stories.
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