Auditory Processing Disorder affects approximately 5% of school-going children. Auditory Processing Disorder deals with wrong processing of hearing related information in brain. It does not involve any disability with the inner ear. Patients have normal hearing ability but they cannot hear due to improper functioning of the brain.
Symptoms of Auditory Processing Disorder Affecting Communication:
- Trouble with paying attention to what others speak.
- Trouble remembering information spoken by others, but better if presented with visual aids.
- Capable of listening to one at a time.
- Unable to follow multi-step instructions spoken by others.
- Avoid noisy locations like- bar, clubs etc.
- May show behavioral problems while interacting with others.
- face difficulty in deciding the direction of the sound hence, feeling uncomfortable to communicate unless he sees him.
- Get confused with similar sounds like- ‘rat’ and ‘bat’.
- Unable to detect the mood and sense of speaking hence, may create unfamiliar situations.
- Talking over telephone gets difficult.
- Develop visual coping strategies like- lip reading, understanding body language, eye contact etc. can help them understand others to certain extent.
- Patients are generally shy and quiet and don’t mingle well with their peers.
Relation to Specific language impairment.
Treatment of Auditory Processing Disorder:
There is no sure-fire method to cure APD. The Audiologist (a healthcare professional who is trained in diagnosing and treating hearing problems in ear) decides on which method of treatment would be appropriate and accurate. Method of treatment may not be the same for every individual. The three goals that are followed during a treatment are:
- Changing the learning environment.
- Teaching new skills that can compensate with the deficiency.
- Treatment of the disability.
Stress is provided on the Memory, Language, Concentration, Problem-solving ability and other psychological skills. These are enhanced to cope with the loss. Treatment of APD involves:
Sound Analysis: – It is the ability to spot the sounds of words correctly.
Sound Blending: – This is to combine sounds correctly to form words.
Sound Segmenting: – This is the ability to hear and separate sounds of words.
