Do you have an Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)

Can you hear me now?

If you are a neurodivergent adult, the chances are that the answer is a guarded “maybe.” Conservative estimates show that 12% of adults currently suffer from hidden hearing loss, most frequently in the form of auditory processing disorders. Auditory processing challenges often co-occur with other common neurodivergence (ASD, ADHD, Dyslexia, SPD, etc.).

Right, but do I have APD?

If noisy environments (think restaurants or your last family wedding) make listening difficult, or even incomprehensible, the results of a standard hearing test might not tell the whole story.

The truth is normal hearing test results do not always guarantee normal listening comprehension. Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a condition that often goes undetected in traditional hearing tests, and it’s easy to overlook. In fact, as we mentioned up top, approximately 12% of adults with normal pure-tone thresholds report significant hearing difficulties, which are frequently dismissed as insignificant issues when the results of a hearing test are “normal.”

An audiogram, which is the standard assessment of hearing, measures your ability to hear different pitches, but it doesn’t examine how your brain processes sound.

APD, on the other hand, from what we know now, starts with atypical neural pathways connecting the technology in your ears to the auditory processing centers in your brain. This affects the brain’s ability to analyze and process sound effectively. Consequently, APD can have a profound impact on your ability to recognize subtle sound differences, comprehend and process speech efficiently, filter out background noises, and retain information you’ve heard.

In many cases, APD can mimic hearing loss and have adverse effects on communication, learning, and social interactions, especially in noisy or multi-talker environments. So, if you’re an adult with a normal or near-normal audiogram who struggles to understand speech, particularly when there’s background noise, you might be dealing with a hidden auditory processing disorder.

Adults with APD often experience:

·       Difficulty understanding conversation.

·       Challenges with conversation in noisy environments, such as restaurants.

·       Trouble splitting attention (e.g., talking on the phone while tuning out background noise).

·       Difficulty comprehending fast speech.

·       Struggles with following long conversations.

·       Difficulty understanding without relying on lipreading or facial cues.

·       Challenges with unfamiliar accents.

·       Preference for high television volume and/or subtitles.

·       Difficulty with teleconferences.

·       Feeling exhausted from straining to follow conversations.

·       Needing more time to process information heard compared to others.

·       Difficulty remembering information long enough to write it down.

·       Misinterpreting the intent behind a person’s comments, such as sarcasm or tone of voice.

·       Easily distracted by sounds that others don’t notice, like tapping or pen clicking.

·       Struggles with understanding music lyrics or distinguishing between melodies.

·       Challenges with reading comprehension, both currently and in their earlier years.

But wait, I was diagnosed with APD when I was 8 and they didn’t have any treatment?

You are so right! The majority of adults with APD had no access to childhood diagnostics and testing. But even kids who were diagnosed in the past 20 years were often told that there was no treatment for their auditory processing deficits.

Times have changed and technology aids are now available to help most people with APD.

Treatment? There is an effective treatment?

Yep. Times and technology have changed and now we can treat APD through smart-learning hearing aids that help compensate for the gaps between what your ears hear, and your brain learns.

What is the treatment for APD?

The treatment that produces the most dramatic results are low gain hearing aids.  At their most basic, these hearing aids offer less volume gain and amplification that typical hearing aids.  Because of this, they help your auditory processing system to untangle speech and noise, boost high frequency signals, and increase the signal to noise ratio. 

That’s all a fancy way of saying they let you hear the things you want to hear and filter out the rest, even in groups and they allow you to locate where sound is coming from.  But even more astoundingly, the most advanced low gain hearing aids employ the latest technology to learn listening environments and optimize them for you. In other words, the low gain hearing aid can self-adjust to the various situations you find yourself in.

What should I do if I think I might have Auditory Processing Disorder?

As many ND Works followers know, we also own an audiology practice, Sound Sense, that specializes in APD.  We have a free APD screening test that can help you determine, or not, if you have APD.  It takes just minutes to complete but provides invaluable feedback.  Take the assessment here.