Auditory Processing Disorder
The Cayman Islands’ Only Auditory Processing Disorder Testing Center
Do you know what a conundrum is? A conundrum is a difficult or vexing question without an easy answer. It often involves solving a puzzle, which is exactly what is involved in diagnosing auditory processing disorder (APD).
The problem is that individuals with APD show normal hearing from a hearing assessment, but they really aren’t able to make sense out of what they’re hearing, making it difficult to recognize without further investigation.
Unfortunately, APD has a significant impact on the cognitive and social development of children, impeding language development and academic progress and is often misdiagnosed. Cayman Hearing Center includes auditory processing disorder testing as another means of providing full-service hearing care to the Cayman Islands.
What Is APD?
Often called central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), auditory processing disorder relates to how the brain processes speech.
Though a person might demonstrate normal hearing during a hearing test, ADP involves a coordination issue between the auditory pathway and the central auditory system of the brain.
While a person with APD hears what someone says, they struggle to decipher the meaning of what was said.
Making matters worse, conversations in an environment with background noise, multiple conversations at the same time, or when not facing the speaker make it difficult for individuals with APD struggle to detect the subtle differences between words like cat, bat and that, or seventy and seventeen, as well as thousands of other words with similar sounds.
There are four categories of processing skills that are limited or lacking in people who struggle with auditory processing disorder:
Auditory discrimination: noticing, comparing, and distinguishing between separate sounds.
Auditory figure-ground discrimination: focusing on the important sounds in a noisy setting.
Auditory memory: recalling what they heard (short or long term)
Auditory sequencing: understanding and recalling the order of sounds and words
APD leads most people to assume that they or their loved one is experiencing a hearing loss, but when hearing tests turn up normal, identifying the cause presents them with a conundrum.
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APD Is Most Prominent in School-Aged Children
Though a person might demonstrate normal hearing during a hearing test, ADP involves a coordination issue between the auditory pathway and the central auditory system of the brain.
While a person with APD hears what someone says, they struggle to decipher the meaning of what was said.
Making matters worse, conversations in an environment with background noise, multiple conversations at the same time, or when not facing the speaker make it difficult for individuals with APD struggle to detect the subtle differences between words like cat, bat and that, or seventy and seventeen, as well as thousands of other words with similar sounds.
Signs/Symptoms of Auditory Processing Disorder
While it is certainly normal for kids to ignore their parents on occasion or to have a short attention span, when these are ongoing issues, they may not be behavioral problems but indicators of APD.
Slow to respond when spoken to
Strange response to questions or conversations
Frequently asking the speaker to repeat what they said
Completing some, but not all, steps in a series of instructions
Difficulty with spelling
Withdrawal in the classroom or during social activities
Extreme fatigue in the classroom or during social activities
Improved understanding when looking at the speaker in a one-on-one conversation
The inability to detect the subtle differences between words is a primary indicator of APD, but a person experiencing APD might also hear the words in a sentence out of order or scrambled. For example, the question “How are the chair and couch alike?” could be interpreted as “How the cow and hair are like?” which causes some obvious confusion
Diagnosing and Treating Auditory Processing Disorder
The first step in diagnosing auditory processing disorder involves ruling out hearing loss as a cause.
When a hearing test shows normal to near normal hearing, but a Hearing Handicap Inventory indicates that a person is struggling to make sense of various words and phrases, audiologists begin to suspect APD.
These tests can help diagnose ADP in children as young as three, but they are most often used with children seven years old or older. Innovative electrophysiology tests are also available to evaluate how the body responds to speech and provide additional information about what is going on in the central auditory system.
Input from parents, teachers, and other adults often provides the necessary information to assist with diagnosis in young children. Audiologists also use additional diagnostic tests like:
Auditory Figure-Ground Testing (speech understanding with background noise)
Auditory Closure Testing (the capacity to “fill in the gaps” of speech)
Dichotic Listening Testing (ability to understand meaningful speech that happens simultaneously)
Temporal Processing Testing (capacity to distinguish between similar speech sounds like “mat” and “pat”)
Binaural Interaction Testing (ability to identify the direction of sounds and localize them in a room)
How Is APD Treated?
The first step in diagnosing auditory processing disorder involves ruling out hearing loss as a cause.
Strategies to help with issues involving sound distinction, recall capacity, sorting out sounds in noisy environments, improving focus during conversation and other processing challenges are among the therapeutic options for treating APD.
Depending on the needs of the child, various types of assistive devices may also be recommended to help with understanding while limiting the impacts of background noise.
They provide your child with the building blocks to help them overcome the condition, improving school and workplace communication. If language development has been impacted by APD, your audiologist might also recommend speech and language therapy, like:
Boosting Phonological Awareness Skills
The Use of Inference in Speech
Vocabulary Enhancement
Comprehension Improvement Strategies
Social Communication Skills
FAQs
