Even Fisher herself, who has spent years helping other people to hear clearly, sometimes finds it difficult to listen in a noisy place. And like many of the people she treats, she has improved her ability to listen through the use of a computer game.

"I give it to all my patients," Fisher said of Listening and Communication Enhancement.

"The program is like physical therapy for your brain," said Fisher, who learned of the simple yet effective product at a seminar in California less than a year ago.

Listening and Communication Enhancement was developed by San Francisco audiologists, with the help of Gerry Kearby, the former sound engineer for the Grateful Dead. Together they developed a CD of 1,500 digitally recorded sentences that help retrain the brain to single out what it wants to hear.

Kearby, now chief executive officer of Neurotone, the company that develops and distributes LACE, made a career of filtering out noise so that Deadheads could better hear the group's lyrics over the music. He helped audiologists use that same principle and technology to develop this program.

"It's a series of exercises that get increasingly more difficult as you get better at it," said Fisher, who started using the program less than a year ago but is impressed with the results.

During 20 half-hour sessions, patients listen to 1,500 sentences that are surrounded by noise or by competing voices. Some are spoken too rapidly to hear entirely. As patients listen, they actually train their brain to hear.

"If you don't use it, you lose it," Fisher said. "You lose your capacity to listen effectively."

The exercises actually stimulate the auditory center of the brain and helps restore a person's ability to listen, and therefore, to hear. Patients can tell they're getting better as their score improves. Those scores are automatically generated, giving Fisher and the patient a clear idea of the progress that's being made.

"Everyone is a candidate," said Fisher, who has given LACE to about 50 people with and without hearing loss.

"We can't bring back hearing," said Fisher. "But we can improve listening. We can improve all the other skills necessary to hear well and create new neural pathways in the process."

Used along with the program, people who need hearing devices tend to be more pleased with the effects of their devices.

Those without hearing loss are better able to detect speech in noisy environments after using LACE At a concert, for instance, they can filter out either the music or the voices around them at will.

Fisher said she has seen positive results in patients with and without hearing loss. And it's so affordable, she gives it to all of her patients.

Those who think they might benefit can obtain it for themselves, without the help of a physician. A home edition is available at www.neurotone.com for $49.