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AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER

Auditory processing is what the brain does with what the ears hear. When the brain receives information from the ears, it recognizes it, interprets it, and stores it away for future use. When the information is needed, the brain retrieves it and uses it. Often this requires the brain to generalize the information or drawn inferences from it, so that the information can be applied to a new situation. When all of this goes well, a person is said to have strong auditory processing skills.

Girl with auditory therapy headphones

 

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) refers to an inability to effectively process the meaning of the sound. Individuals with APD generally have hearing levels within normal limits, but have difficulty interpreting the meaning of the sounds. There is no relationship between APD and a person’s level of intelligence. Many individuals with APD or other learning problems are quite bright. A person with APD may experience some of the following symptoms:

 

 

  • Needs instructions repeated often

  • Overly sensitive to sounds and noise

  • Appears to not hear what others say

  • Confused about the direction of sounds

  • Difficulty expressing thoughts

  • Difficulty in a noisy environment

  • Delayed language development

  • Difficulty remembering what is being said

 

Link to auditory processing screening questionnaire.
Link to solutions page
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