Treating Auditory Processing Disorder/Deficit

Over the past years, more and more people are becoming aware of auditory processing disorder/deficit (APD), which is also known as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). The disorder causes difficulty in recognizing the subtle differences between sounds in words. Due to this, those who suffer from it find it hard to process what other people are saying.

Image source: kars4kids.org

A common misconception is that APD is similar to hearing impairment or attention deficit disorder, which is far from the truth. Most children with APD pass hearing tests, having normal hearing abilities. What is affected is how the central nervous system processes the sounds they hear, leading to struggling to understand speech in a noisy environment, obeying directions, and distinguishing sounds that seem similar. While it is different from hearing impairment or other cognitive dysfunctions, APD still affects speech and language development, learning, comprehension, spelling, and reading.

An effective way of treating APD is the use of an auditory program that first identifies the specific cause of the issue and assesses the patient before creating a personalized solution. Several factors are taken into consideration, such as the neurodevelopment of short-term memory, the auditory cortex, the language centers, ability to recognize words and speech, and learned listening personality traits. After which, exercises, activities, and processes are applied to reduce or eliminate neuro-inhibitors in feedback pathways. These tools also develop the brain so it could recognize auditory frequencies, which leads to better processing of sound signals.

Image source: hiveminer.com

Experienced neuroengineer Dr. Curtis Cripe heads the research and development department of NTL Group, which specializes in diagnosing and treating brain-based dysfunctions. Read more about neuroengineering by connecting with this Google+ page.