What Is Auditory Processing Disorder?

By Dion Hutchinson-Jones

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a general term for hearing disorders where the ears hear normally but the brain has difficulty interpreting the sound accurately or fast enough.

Individuals with APD can hear, but they sometime have difficulty understanding what they hear.

what are the signs that you/your child might have apd?

You/they have difficulty understanding and remembering complex verbal instructions.
You/they have difficulty attending to and remembering spoken information.
You/they have difficulty hearing speech when background noise is present.
You/they are behind in the following areas at school: spelling, vocabulary, reading and/or writing.
You/they prefer having the TV volume turned up louder then others do.
You/they feel overwhelmed in noisy and busy environments e.g. shopping centres, resteraunts, school buses, noisy classrooms

what causes apd?

The exact cause of APD is unknown, however, there is research to suggest that chronic ear infections, meningitis, or lead poisoning can result in APD.

The following conditions are also associated with APD: low birth weight, head injury and nervous system diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

APD can also co-occur with other conditions including: dyslexia, autism, developmental language disorder (DLD) and attention disorders (ADD and ADHD).

what are the effects of apd on children?

Children with APD often miss, or misunderstand, what is being said. They may have missed parts of speech that are too fast or too complex, or background noise may be making it difficult for them to hear.

Children must develop hearing skills to seperate important sounds from other surrounding sounds, such as the teacher’s voice against other children moving and talking. They also need to be able rapidly and correctly identify all of the phonemes that make up language, no matter the voice, speed, or accent with which they are spoken.

APD can affect the correct and rapid recognition of phonemes (the sounds of speech), and can therefore be an an underlying cause of language development delays, phonological awareness issues, spelling difficulties and reading difficulties including dyslexia.

The communication problems caused by APD can lead to low confidence and self-esteem, and difficulties with socialisation.

what happens in an apd assessment and how much does it cost?

An APD assessment consists of several different tests:

Full diagnostic hearing test, including pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry and immittance testing
Short Term Auditory Memory Test
Random Gap Detection Test
Frequency Pattern Perception Test
Randomised Dichotic Digits Test
Dichotic Words Listening Test
Listening in Spatialised Noise - Sentences Test

Your Audiologist will explain each test to you or your child, with each test assessing a different domain of auditory processing function. The results of all the tests will be lookedat together to build a picture of a person’s auditory processing ability.

The APD assessment takes approximately 2 hours and costs $650. At the end of the appointment you will receive a comprehensive report outlining the results, your diagnosis, and any recommendations. To undergo testing children must be at least 7 years old.

what are the treatment options?

Following your APD assessment, one or more of the following may be recommended:

Consultation and advice
Auditory training
Provision of assistive hearing technology, such as a remote microphone hearing aid system (RMHA system)
Referral to other professionals

i suspect i/my child has apd, what do i do?

People with APD often do not have a sensory hearing loss, therefore APD cannot be identified from a regular hearing test. Special audiological assessment is required to diagnose APD. Hearing & Balance are the sole providers of APD assessments in Hawke’s Bay.

To enquire about an appointment, get in contact by phoning our Practice Manager, Tash, on 06 833 6312, or send an email to admin@hearingandbalance.co.nz.

Auditory Processing Disorder