Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Effects of Auditory Processing Disorder and Hearing Health

Suffering from hearing loss is not only caused by hearing damage, this article will go over a hearing health condition called Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), whose effects on hearing loss do not lie on damage to the auditory system.

According to the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA), ADP sufferers experience “a greater than expected difficulty hearing and understanding speech even though no measureable hearing loss exists.” Individuals with this condition may think they suffer from loss of hearing when that is not the case.

As ASHA explains, ADP has similarities with conditions such as language impairment, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and learning disabilities, among other conditions. So how can this condition be diagnosed? ASHA states “It is important to take a multidisciplinary approach for accurate diagnosis of this disorder. Members of the team may include the speech-language pathologist, psychologist, classroom teacher, physician, parent and the audiologist.” If the results of this approach show a correlation with ADP, an audiologist will be able to continue on by providing a variety of tests based on the patient’s characteristics.

If you believe you or your child may suffer from this condition, contact your local Miami Hearing Center.

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