Auditory Processing

Does your child not follow your directions or a teacher's directions? Is your child not listening? Distracted? Not paying attention? Poor conduct? Hearing loss? Any of these explanations are possible. Or maybe your child hears the sound, but has a problem processing or understanding what is said to him—particularly when the language used is complex, spoken rapidly, or is lengthy, and when there’s a lot to look at and lots of noise around him.

The inability to understand spoken language in a meaningful way in the absence of what is commonly considered a hearing loss is called an auditory processing problem. Other terms that have been used interchangeably include: auditory comprehension deficit, central deafness, central auditory processing disorder, word deafness, and auditory perceptual processing dysfunction.

Evaluation by both an audiologist and a speech-language pathologist will provide you with important information about your child’s auditory processing capabilities. An audiologist will evaluate a child’s hearing acuity and identify possible auditory perception problems. This professional also will make recommendations about treatment strategies concerning improving the listening environment and monitoring any changes in hearing status. A speech-language pathologist can evaluate a child’s perception of speech and his/her receptive (understanding) and expressive (production) language use.