Sound Familiar?
• Problems hearing in noise?• Mis-hears fine auditory differences?• Frequent mis-hearings? |
• Problems at school or work?• Poor at following complex directions?• History of ear infections or head injury? |
• YET, passes regular hearing tests. |
What are typical behaviors of people with APD?
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Acts as though a hearing loss is present; says “huh?” or “what?” a lot. Needs frequent repetitions or rephrasing.
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but passes regular hearing tests.
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has difficulty understanding speech in the presence of competing background noise or in reverberant acoustic environments.
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had a history of ear infections or ventilation tubes or a history of head injury or had significant jaundice at birth.
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has difficulty understanding on the telephone, or avoids using the telephone.
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has difficulty following rapid speech.
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has difficulty understanding speakers who have an accent.
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often accused of “selective listening” or not paying attention.
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difficulty remembering the lyrics to songs; often believes the lyrics to be different from what others hear.
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has academic difficulties, including reading, spelling and/or learning problems.
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finds it hard to remember information given verbally.
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has difficulty localizing the source of a signal.
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has difficulty carrying out a verbal multi-part instruction, but does fine when given a written list of things to do.
What is Auditory Processing Disorder?
Auditory processing disorder (APD), also known as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), is an umbrella term for a variety of disorders that affect the way the brain processes auditory information.
Individuals with APD usually have normal structure and function of the outer, middle and inner ear (peripheral hearing). However, they cannot process the information they hear in the same way as others do, which leads to difficulties in recognizing and interpreting sounds, especially the sounds composing speech.
It is thought that these difficulties arise from dysfunction in the central nervous system.
