A.P.D.

Helping patients manage auditory disorders.

Child receiving an auditory processing evaluation

Understanding

What Is Auditory Processing Disorder?

Auditory processing disorder (APD) is the inability or decreased ability to make efficient use of auditory information. Children with disordered auditory skills (APD) may exhibit a reduced ability to attend to, remember, or understand information they hear. They may not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words. In order to learn in a school via the auditory channel, a child needs the ability to:

Hear adequately
Listen attentively as well as remember, understand, and follow instructions
Separate out important speech from all the other noises present

For a child with an auditory processing disorder, learning in the classroom environment, where noise and visual distractions can be constant, may become extremely difficult. If an auditory processing disorder remains undiagnosed and untreated, such a problem may persist, resulting in poor communication skills throughout adulthood. What many people don't realize is that the problem is more related to poor information processing than hearing. In fact, most people with auditory processing disorders have normal hearing.

Diagnostics

Specialized Testing

Specialized audiological testing evaluates the different areas of auditory function, such as:

Hearing acuity
Discriminating sounds in quiet and in noise
Localizing sounds and speakers when listening to multiple conversations
Phonemic awareness
Remembering and sequencing what is heard
Assigning meaning to information heard from different locations in the environment simultaneously

These auditory processing skills are the foundation for successful academic and social success.

Schedule Appointment

Treatment

What Can Be Done for ADP?

Therapeutic approaches for management of auditory processing disorder may include:

Training to improve integration and separation of competing auditory information, including spatial hearing exercises and hearing in noise exercises
Providing specialized dichotic listening exercises to strengthen auditory pathways
Using therapeutic techniques designed to improve auditory memory and listening comprehension
Helping implement modifications of the listening/learning environment
Teaching compensatory listening and learning strategies
Assistive listening technology

The highest use of our auditory processing skills comes when they are used to process language (oral and written). Normal development of receptive/expressive oral language and reading skills is largely dependent on effective auditory processing abilities. Therefore, a comprehensive approach to APD management requires analysis of language processing skills development.

Language

Language Processing Skills
Related to Auditory Processing

Understanding what we hear and read, and speaking and writing effectively, are uniquely human communication skills. Developing effective language skills is essential to learning, working, and enjoying family and social life with peers. When a child or adult cannot understand the language code, there is a receptive problem. If an individual does not know enough language rules to verbally share thoughts, ideas, and feelings completely, then there is an expressive problem.

Language is a code made up of rules that include:

What words mean
How to make new words
How to combine words together
Determine what word combinations are best in what situations
Pragmatics (social language skills)
Assistive listening technology

A comprehensive language evaluation

A comprehensive language evaluation uses standardized diagnostic tools, clinical observation, and parent/family and teacher interviews to assess the following:

Oral language development (comprehension and expression)
Written language skills (reading decoding, fluency, and comprehension; spelling and word use knowledge, sentence structure, and paragraph/story construction)
Pragmatic language skills related to both oral and written language

Schedule Appointment

Our approach

Intervention Plan

We provide comprehensive auditory and language processing assessments to evaluate the causes of these communication difficulties. We then follow-up with an intervention plan customized to address deficits from an auditory processing and language processing approach. This approach allows us to treat the specific ways in which auditory information is refined, modified, and organized as it travels from the ear upward toward the higher language processing brain centers. Therapy is also offered to strengthen the overreaching linguistic skills needed for comprehension, memory, and recall of what is heard and read.

We follow best practice techniques recommended by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, to provide evidenced based and effective treatment. The therapy program we recommend and techniques we use encompass:

Specific goals based on the results of comprehensive assessments of each auditory/language skill area
Facilitating the participation of the child's family and teachers in addressing program goals to ensure appropriate carry-over of target skills
Emphasis throughout treatment on building and maintaining a child's self-esteem and confidence

Dr. Ali Danesh and Dr. Harlee Atkins researching auditory processing disorders

Learning Corner Feature

Auditory Processing Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment — from the work of Dr. Ali Danesh and his current and former auditory processing specialists Dr. Rebecca Anderson and Dr. Harlee Atkins

This document, authored primarily by Dr. Ali Danesh and colleagues, provides a comprehensive overview of Auditory Processing Disorders (APDs), explaining how the ear and brain work together in listening. It defines APDs as deficits in processing auditory information in the central nervous system, distinguishing them from hearing loss and language processing disorders. The text explores the redundant auditory system, its anatomy, and how sound is processed, also covering factors like maturation and potential impairments. Finally, it discusses diagnosis and management strategies for APDs, including environmental modifications, compensatory techniques, and direct remediation approaches, emphasizing the roles of audiologists and speech-language pathologists.

Listen to audio Watch video

Hearing Aids In South Florida

At our hearing aid center, we offer a variety of programmable hearing aids from the top-ranked manufacturers.

Learn More

Leading Tinnitus Care

At Labyrinth Audiology, we provide sophisticated and multidisciplinary treatment and management options for patients with tinnitus.

Learn More