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Auditory Processing

What is Auditory Processing?

Auditory Processing is a term used to describe your brain’s ability to interpret and make sense of speech sounds, both quickly and efficiently enough to understand spoken language. Individuals are able listen to effectively when energy that we recognize as sound, travels through the ear and is changed into information that can be interpreted by the brain.

What is an Auditory Processing Disorder?

An auditory processing disorder is a neurologically based disorder. It is marked by an individual’s inability to distinguish between distinct speech sounds, or consonants, impeding the interpretation of information. The speed of processing may also be reduced. They may actually miss words because their capacity to process what is being said instantaneously is impaired. This is due to weak connections in the auditory cortex of the brain – the location of neural circuits that support language. Individuals with this kind of disorder cannot distinguish between similar short words, like “da” and “ba”.

Likewise, consonants that race by in less than a millisecond, like “k” and “s” are difficult to distinguish in everyday speech. As a result an individual with an auditory processing disorder misses words in conversation and instruction. They may mishear or misinterpret what was said.

For example, a child’s mother may say to him, “I’m going to take you swimming after you complete all of your homework.” His mother never takes him swimming because his homework is incomplete. The child is convinced that his mother has lied to him. This is worsened in situations with significant background noise, such as classrooms and work environments. Additionally, a person who cannot distinguish sounds orally may also have difficulty connecting them to their written representation when reading or writing.

Consider this question; “Who was the first president of the United States?” An individual without processing difficulties will process the question correctly and provide the appropriate answer, George Washington. Alternatively, a person with a processing disorder will simply process the words. A child with an auditory processing disorder, in a classroom setting, may misinterpret the sounds, words, and/ or the meaning of the same question. As a result, they miss crucial information that follows. They may still be thinking about the meaning of the question when the rest of the class has moved on to something else.

An auditory processing disorder can injure a child’s self esteem. It may seem to parents or teachers that a child with an auditory processing disorder is ignoring them or intentionally not paying attention. In reality, these patients cannot really help it. Their self-esteem, obviously, will be affected when they are criticized for “not listening”. It is a statistical fact that 75% of a child’s day in school is spent listening.

Who can benefit?

The programs have proven helpful for individuals who are experiencing difficulties with the following: