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WHAT IS CENTRAL AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is the deficit in neural processing of auditory stimuli that is not due to higher language or cognitive related factors. CAPD causes difficulties in everyday listening situations that often manifest as trouble hearing in noise, following oral directions, and/or paying attention that cannot be remediated by restoring audibility. Causes of CAPD include: Unknown cause, stroke, head trauma, brain tumour, multiple sclerosis, Recurrent ear infections, Socioeconomic background, HIV and neural degeneration especially in adults.

Some behaviours that are associated with CAPD include: Normal hearing, responding inconsistently to auditory stimulus.

Unable to follow auditory instructions, become frightened and upset when exposed to loud noise, difficulty following long or complicated verbal commands or instruction frequently request that information is repeated. Some red flags to help identify if your child may be presenting with CAPD include: Poor reading, writing and spelling skills, not paying attention or is daydreaming during class, child who learn better by visually, mishearing the words, does not participate in class discussion, misunderstand homework, assignments, fails to follow direction, can not tolerate a noisy room, become fidgety in loud/noisy places (at the gym, playground, cafeteria).

By Lauren Sarchi

Impacts of CAPD

CENTRAL AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER (CAPD)

CENTRAL AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER (CAPD)

Facts about CAPD

  • Prevalence is 2 to 20%
  • 2:1 male-female ratio
  • Input disorder
  • Should be evaluated following maturation at age 7
  • Receptive language and word retrieval problem
  • Difficulty with metacognitive language
  • Diagnosed by a battery of audiological tests
  • Management includes signal enhancement, modification of environment
  • May need social skills training

Impacts of CAPD

  • Difficulty understanding a teacher in a noisy classroom
  • Difficulty understanding speech in everyday listening situations at home and school
  • Parents often complain that the child cannot understand them when the television is on
  • The teacher will complain of the child’s inability to follow directions, distractibility, and general unruliness.
  • Elderly patients with APD will experience substantially greater difficulty hearing than would be expected from their degree and configuration of hearing loss
  • Difficulty will be exacerbated in the presence of background noise
  • In cells begin to die. This can lead to brain injury, disability and possibly death.