Premier Hearing Solutions specializes in evaluations for auditory processing disorders.
What is auditory processing?
Auditory processing is a term used to describe what happens when your brain recognizes and interprets the sounds around you. Humans hear when energy that we recognize as sound travels through the ear and is changed into electrical information that can be interpreted by the brain. The "disorder" part of auditory processing disorder means that something is adversely affecting the processing or interpretation of the information.
Children with APD often do not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words, even though the sounds themselves are loud and clear. For example, the request "Tell me how a chair and a couch are alike" may sound to a child with APD like "Tell me how a couch and a chair are alike." It can even be understood by the child as "Tell me how a cow and a hair are alike." These kinds of problems are more likely to occur when a person with APD is in a noisy environment or when he or she is listening to complex information.
APD goes by many other names. Sometimes it is referred to as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). Other common names are auditory perception problem, auditory comprehension deficit, central auditory dysfunction, central deafness, and so-called "word deafness."
How is auditory processing assessed?
Premier Hearing Solutions assesses APD through the use of special tests designed to assess the various auditory functions of the brain. However, before this type of testing begins, it is important that each person being tested receive a routine hearing test to verify normal peripheral hearing function. Testing will include an assessment of middle ear function.
Premier Hearing Solutions offers a battery of auditory tests that is used to assess central auditory function. Within this battery there are two major categories of test procedures: behavioral tests and electrophysiologic tests. The behavioral tests are broken down into five subcategories, including monaural low-redundancy speech tests, dichotic speech tests, temporal patterning tests, binaural interaction tests and gap detection. It should be noted that children being assessed for CAPD will not necessarily be given a test from each of these categories. Rather, tests will be selected for each child. The selection of tests will depend upon a number of factors, including the age of the child, the specific auditory difficulties the child displays, the child's native language and cognitive status, and so forth. For the most part, children under the age of 7 years are not candidates for this type of diagnostic testing. In addition, central auditory processing assessments may not be appropriate for children with significant developmental delays (i.e., cognitive deficits).What options are available for individuals with auditory processing difficulties?
There are several different ways to help children overcome their APD. The exact procedures or approaches used will depend upon a number of factors, including the exact nature of the APD, the age of the child, the co-existence of other disabilities and/or problems, and the availability of resources. In general, the approaches to remediation or management fall into three main categories:
(a) enhancing the individual's auditory perceptual skills,
(b) enhancing the individual's language and cognitive resources,
(c) improving the quality of the auditory signal.
Children can be provided personal assistive-listening devices that should serve to enhance the teacher's voice and reduce the competition of other noises and sounds in the classroom.
Acoustic modifications can be made to the classroom (e.g., carpeting, acoustic ceiling tiles, window treatments) which should help to minimize the detrimental effects of noise on the child's ability to process speech in the educational setting.
Many children with APD will benefit from directed phonological awareness training. Intervention may also involve the identification of (and training in the use of) strategies that can be used to overcome specific auditory, speech and language, or academic difficulties.