Diagnosing Auditory Processing Disorders

Someone with an Auditory Processing Disorder may have normal hearing.  Because of this, it takes special testing to identify an APD.  This begins by asking the following questions: 

* Do you have trouble hearing clearly in a noisy environment?

* Do you sometimes make "silly" mistakes or "careless" errors when completing a job assignment?

* Do you miss important sounds or signals that others hear easily?

* Do you have trouble following a series of spoken instructions?  Do you consistently forget instructions?

* Do you hear less well or become less attentive/productive in ordinarily busy surroundings?

Upon suspicion that an APD may be present, testing is performed to determine where a breakdown is occurring along the auditory pathway that is causing the person to have difficulty processing auditory information.  

Judith Paton, a clinical audiologist in California, details a full list of subtypes of APD that manifest themselves in multiple ways. 

Ms. Paton also points out that "The most accurate way to sort out APDs from other problems that mimic them, is through clinical audiologic tests of central nervous system function.  These include tests of auditory memory for sentences, syllables, or numbers, sequencing, tonal pattern recognition or sound blending, and storage of general information which is most often acquired through listening."

Find more information about Ms. Paton's APD research by visiting her website.