Hearing Aids Help You Hear. Lace Pro Helps You Listen.

If you can hear someone speaking but still struggle to understand what they are saying—especially in a busy restaurant, meeting, or family gathering—you are not alone.

Hearing is more than detecting sound. Your ears collect sound, but your brain has to sort it, focus on what matters, fill in missing information, and turn it into meaning. That is why even well-fit hearing aids may not solve every listening challenge on their own.

At Blue Sky Hearing, we believe better hearing care should address the whole listening process. That’s why Susanna Storm, Au.D., was among the first audiologists in the Bay Area to incorporate LACE auditory training, now available as Lace Pro by Neurotone, into patient care.

What is auditory training?

Auditory training is structured practice that helps your brain become more efficient at processing speech and sound. Think of it as physical therapy for listening: the right exercises, completed consistently, can help strengthen skills that everyday communication requires.

Lace Pro is a patient-led auditory training program designed for use at home. Its exercises adapt to your performance and focus on practical skills such as:

• Understanding speech in background noise
• Following faster speakers
• Using context to make sense of incomplete information
• Strengthening auditory attention and working memory
• Learning communication strategies for difficult listening situations

Rather than simply making sounds louder, the program helps you practice what happens after sound reaches your ears: listening, processing, and understanding.

Why hearing aids may be only part of the solution

Today’s hearing aids can do remarkable things. When professionally selected, fit, and programmed, they improve access to sounds you have been missing and can make speech clearer and everyday communication easier.

But hearing aids cannot do all of the brain’s work for you. If hearing loss has developed gradually, your brain may have spent years receiving an incomplete or degraded signal. Once sound becomes audible again, it can take time and practice to adjust.

This is often most noticeable in places where several sounds compete for your attention. A hearing aid can deliver more of the conversation, but your brain still has to separate a friend’s voice from clattering dishes, nearby conversations, and background music.

Auditory training gives you a structured way to practice that work. It can be especially valuable for new hearing aid users adapting to amplification, experienced users who still struggle in noise, and people who have listening difficulties that are not fully explained by a standard hearing test.

Why Lace Pro is different

LACE stands for Listening and Communication Enhancement. The original program was developed with audiologists at the University of California, San Francisco, and its approach has been studied for more than 20 years. Neurotone has updated that foundation with a more personalized, engaging platform called Lace Pro.

The program includes thousands of exercises across a variety of topics, along with progress tracking, real-time feedback, hearing education, and communication strategies. Training adjusts as you work so it remains challenging without becoming discouraging.

Most importantly, Lace Pro focuses on situations that matter outside the clinic. The goal is not to become good at an app. The goal is to follow conversations more comfortably, feel less worn out from listening, and participate with greater confidence in daily life.

The importance of training the brain—not just the ears

Listening is an active process involving attention, memory, speed, and context. When any part of that process is strained, conversations can become exhausting. You may find yourself guessing, asking people to repeat themselves, or mentally checking out because keeping up requires too much effort.

That effort is real. It is often called listening fatigue.

A comprehensive hearing-care plan should therefore consider more than what you can hear in a quiet test booth. At Blue Sky Hearing, speech-in-noise testing helps us understand how your ears and brain work together in conditions that better reflect real life. When appropriate, auditory training can then help you practice the specific listening skills that traditional amplification alone does not train.

Research on LACE and auditory training has reported improvements in areas such as speech understanding in noise, listening confidence, and auditory-cognitive skills. Individual results vary, and meaningful improvement depends on consistent participation, but the evidence supports a simple idea: the brain can learn, and guided practice matters.

Who may benefit from Lace Pro?

Lace Pro may be worth discussing if you:

• Have hearing aids but still find restaurants or group conversations difficult
• Are new to hearing aids and want help adjusting
• Hear sounds but do not always understand the words
• Feel tired after meetings, social events, or extended conversations
• Want to become a more active and confident communication partner
• Have difficulty hearing in noise even though your audiogram shows little or no hearing loss

Auditory training is not a replacement for a hearing evaluation, professionally fit hearing aids, or medical care when needed. It is another tool we can use to build a more complete, individualized plan.

Why professional guidance matters

An app can provide exercises. An audiologist helps determine why you are struggling, whether auditory training is appropriate, how it fits with your hearing technology, and how your progress relates to your real-world goals.

Dr. Storm brought LACE to Blue Sky Hearing early because it reflects the practice’s approach to care: use evidence-based tools, educate patients, and look beyond the device. Better hearing is not simply owning hearing aids. It is being able to take part in the conversations and moments that make life meaningful.

Ready to make listening feel easier?

If background noise, fast speech, or listening fatigue is still getting in your way, Lace Pro may be a valuable addition to your hearing care.

Schedule a consultation with Blue Sky Hearing in Berkeley to learn whether LACE auditory training is right for you. Call or text 510-930-1581 to get started.