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Auditory Processing is how our brain processes sounds that come in through our Hearing, and our ability to interpret these sounds as meaningful information. Auditory Processing allows us to attend to, process, understand, remember speech, and modulate our own speech. It is essential for developing core components of reading and language acquisition that lay the foundation for Core Academic Literacies and Communication skills.
Some core aspects of Auditory Processing are:
Auditory Discrimination: the ability to distinguish sounds,
Auditory Sequencing: the ability to understand and remember the order sounds,
Auditory Memory: the ability to remember what we hear, and
Auditory Attention: the ability to filter out extraneous noise and focus on auditory input, among others.
Language Processing happens after processing auditory input and allows us to attach meaning to that input and supports recognition, and comprehension. With these skills, students learn to understand language and the differences between words with similar sounds.
Children who have difficulties with Auditory Processing may have difficulties registering, remembering, and repeating what they hear as well as paying Attention to verbal information, all of which can interfere with learning and academic outcomes. Children can have a Central Auditory Processing disorder (CAPD) in the absence of Hearing impairments, due to differences in how the brain processes auditory input. It is important to note that traditional tests for CAPD typically cannot be done until the age of 7 and so this might not get formally diagnosed in the early years. Regardless, young learners with Auditory Processing difficulties can struggle to distinguish speech from background noise and with the ability to understand simultaneous, meaningful speech happening at the same time (dichotic listening). Classrooms (which are often noisy) can be a challenging environment for learning. To help support all learners, educators can make frequent checks for understanding, present information in multiple modalities, and offer additional supports to students who may be having difficulties attending to and processing auditory information.
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