Auditory processing disorder

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), also known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), is a complex problem affecting about 5% of school-aged children. These kids can't process what they hear in the same way other kids do because their ears and brain don't fully coordinate. Something interferes with the way the brain recognizes and interprets sounds, especially speech.

Auditory Pathway

Symptoms

Children with APD often do not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words, even when the sounds are loud and clear enough to be heard. They can also find it difficult to tell where sounds are coming from, to make sense of the order of sounds, or to block out competing background noises.

Causes

The cause of APD is often unknown. In children, auditory processing difficulty may be associated with conditions such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, autism, autism spectrum disorder, specific language impairment, pervasive developmental disorder, or developmental delay. Sometimes this term has been misapplied to children who have no hearing or language disorder but have challenges in learning.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of APD is made by an audiologist. It involves a series of tests, some of them are speech tests which require the child to repeat back a series of words or sentences. Other tests probe the child's ability to hear sounds that are short in duration or high in pitch, sounds that are masked by other sounds, or sounds presented to one ear at a time.

Treatment

Treatment of APD generally focuses on three primary areas: changing the learning or communication environment, recruiting higher-order skills to help compensate for the disorder, and remediation of the auditory deficit itself. The primary goal of these treatments is to improve participation in major life activities.

See also

• Speech and language pathology
• Audiology
• Hearing loss
• Dyslexia
• Attention deficit disorder
• Autism
• Autism spectrum disorder