The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of auditory distraction on the discourse production abilities of adults with traumatic brain injury. Narrative and persuasive discourse-retelling abilities were compared in ten adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and ten healthy, aged-matched control participants. Narrative and persuasive retellings were analysed according to language measures (e.g. number of words, number of T-units, mean length of T-units and sentential complexity); information measures (e.g. number of propositions, number of episodic structure elements, and number of global structure components) and ability to generate a moral or aim. A modified version of Damico’s Clinical Discourse Analysis (1992) was included as a further measurement of pragmatic ability for the persuasive genre. The effect of auditory distraction upon passage recall and discourse production abilities was investigated by employing two experimental conditions: (1) no distraction and (2) multitalker babble at 80db. The adults with TBI differed significantly from the non-TBI comparison group for the language domain (sentential complexity), information domain (episodic structure) and generation of a moral or aim. Significant genre differences were documented, for the language domain (number of words and number of T-units), all measures in the information domain, and generation of a moral or aim. No condition effect was found, across group or genre. The results are examined alongside a number of theories including working memory, genre demands and perception of distraction. Clinical implications for assessment and intervention within the TBI population are discussed.