In collaboration with
Can Exercise Help Kids Who Struggle to Listen? Meet ACET, A New Approach to Auditory Processing Disorder
Imagine being a child who can hear perfectly well but still can’t follow what the teacher is saying in a noisy classroom. For the many children living with (Central) Auditory Processing Disorder this is everyday reality. And current treatments often fall short.
A new protocol paper, just accepted in Speech, Language and Hearing, describes a pioneering intervention that could change the way we support these children. It’s called Auditory-Cued Exercise Therapy or ACET, and it combines movement, music and auditory training into one engaging, child-friendly program.
What Is (C)APD and Why Does It Matter?
(Central) Auditory Processing Disorder is an umbrella term for children who experience difficulty with listening despite having normal hearing on a standard audiogram. The disorder originates in the central auditory nervous system, making it especially hard to process speech in noisy environments, like a classroom, a playground, or a busy home.
It affects an estimated 0.5–7% of children in the general population and up to 9–15% of Aboriginal children in Australia. Beyond hearing itself, (C)APD frequently causes academic, behavioural, emotional, cognitive and social difficulties, and often co-occurs with ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia and Language Disorder.
Children with (C)APD can hear, but struggle to process what they hear. The gap between hearing and listening is where this disorder lives.
The Problem With Current Treatments
Existing interventions for (C)APD, such as auditory training programs, remote microphone systems, and working memory training, show varying degrees of benefit. But they share significant limitations: high costs, demanding time commitments, heavy attentional loads, and a near-exclusive focus on auditory processing alone. They largely fail to address the social, emotional and behavioural challenges that so frequently accompany (C)APD.
As a result, many children are left without adequate support and these difficulties can persist into adulthood, creating ongoing social, educational and health burdens.
Enter ACET: A Transdisciplinary Solution
Developed by researchers at the University of Western Australia and Thriving in Motion, ACET is a novel intervention that combines three evidence-based approaches into a single, engaging program:
Physical Exercise – known to positively influence brain development, cognition, and mental health, and an established therapeutic tool for many of the co-occurring conditions of (C)APD (including ADHD, Autism, depression and Dyslexia).
Music Therapy – identified as beneficial for auditory processing skills, social-emotional development, and neurodevelopmental conditions more broadly.
Auditory Training – using targeted cue-and-response activities that exercise the central auditory nervous system through both bottom-up and top-down processing pathways.
The result is an 8-week program of twice-weekly, 50-minute group exercise sessions where children move, listen, respond to sound and engage with music.
How Does ACET Work in Practice?
Every ACET session includes approximately 15 minutes each of aerobic activities, strengthening activities, and motor skills, structured through engaging games and activities designed for 7–12-year-olds.
The auditory elements are woven throughout. Activities are designed around two principles: auditory cues (where children respond to sounds, music cues, or verbal instructions) and music and rhythm engagement (moving in time with music, expressing rhythm through movement, responding to specific beats or counts).
A comparison “exercise-only” group receives identical physical activities, but without the music and auditory cue components, allowing the research team to isolate the specific effects of the auditory elements.
The ACET program was co-designed with input from children and parents, including a playlist built from the favourite songs of kids aged 7–12 currently engaged in exercise services.
What Will the Trial Measure?
This newly published paper describes the protocol for a two-group feasibility and pilot trial aiming to recruit 80 children aged 7–12 with a confirmed (C)APD diagnosis. The primary outcome is change in auditory processing ability. Secondary outcomes include physical literacy, and health-related quality of life.
Importantly, this is the first protocol in the (C)APD field to integrate exercise and physical literacy outcomes into treatment research, recognising that children’s relationship with movement is just as important as their auditory development.
Why This Research Matters
ACET represents something genuinely new: an accessible, engaging, cost-effective approach that doesn’t ask children to sit still and train their ears, it asks them to move, play and listen. For a population that so often disengages from demanding therapeutic programs, this could be transformative.
If the trial establishes feasibility and preliminary efficacy, it will lay the groundwork for a full-scale randomised controlled trial, and ultimately, a new treatment pathway for thousands of Australian children.
About the Research Team
This work was supported by the Channel 7 Telethon Trust and reflects a transdisciplinary collaboration between the University of Western Australia, The Kids Research Institute Australia, Thriving in Motion, and UNSW.
Full Citation + Access to Paper
Almarjawi, A., Furzer, B., Mulders, W., Edwards, G., Tarawneh, H., Linton, N., Austin, F., Wright, K., Jackson, B., Brennan-Jones, C., & Choi, R. (2026). Auditory-cued exercise therapy (ACET) in 7–12-year-old children with listening difficulties – a feasibility and pilot trial protocol. Speech, Language and Hearing, 29(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2026.2652120
Questions?
Follow our team’s work for future updates from the MHEX program or get in touch (mhex@uwa.edu.au)
More MHEX News
The MHEX Team acknowledges all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Custodians of Country and recognises their continuing connection to land, sea, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past, and present.
We are committed to embracing diversity and eliminating all forms of discrimination through education and inclusive communities. We welcome all people and are respectful of individual identities.