Patient and Family Services
Pediatric Audiology
Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)
The teacher tells
everybody to take out a pencil, a piece of paper, and turn to
page 32 in the spelling workbook. Pretty straightforward
and easily accomplished. For everyone except for the child with
CAPD who, despite having normal hearing and intelligence, has
trouble understanding and following the teacher’s verbal
directions. Learn more:
What is CAPD?
People with central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) generally
have normal hearing sensitivity, but find it difficult to process
and make sense of what they
hear. The
disorder is most common among children, but it also affects adults.
CAPD is characterized by various problems which occur in different
listening environments when the ears and the brain don’t
fully coordinate. People with CAPD may have trouble receiving,
analyzing, organizing, storing, and using auditory information.
These symptoms may get worse in places with a lot of background
noise or acoustic problems.
Children with CAPD may have difficulties
with speech, language, and learning – especially in the
areas of reading and spelling. They may also appear to be hearing
impaired, inattentive,
easily distracted, and have problems following oral directions.
Some children who have CAPD may also be diagnosed with Attention
Deficit
Disorder (ADD) or Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
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Symptoms of CAPD
People with CAPD may have difficulty:
- Hearing in noisy in places that are noisy or have poor acoustics
- Following
long conversations
- Hearing conversations on the telephone
- Performing academically
with reading and/or spelling
- Learning challenging vocabulary
words or a foreign language
- Remembering spoken information
- Taking notes
- Staying focused on an activity when other sounds
are present
- Developing organizational skills
- Following multi-step directions
- Directing, sustaining, or dividing
their attention
- Processing nonverbal auditory information, such
as music
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Causes of CAPD
CAPD is a neurological problem that interferes with the brain’s
ability to process speech and other sounds. It may be inherited,
caused by a birth defect, or result from causes or combinations
of causes such as head trauma, disease, tumor, and lead poisoning.
The cause usually can’t be determined or
attributed to one specific thing.
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Diagnosing CAPD
The process of evaluating a CAPD often is a collaborative effort
between an audiologist and a speech-language
pathologist.
A learning
disabilities specialist or mental
health professional may also be involved. An evaluation usually includes a
complete
hearing exam, standardized testing, questionnaires, and
behavioral inventories.
The audiologist first tests hearing sensitivity
and middle ear function. (Some middle ear conditions can affect
central
auditory performance.) More sophisticated tests follow to determine
the patient’s ability to understand speech in the presence
of background noise, competing speech, and less-than-optimal
listening conditions.
The role of the speech-language pathologist is to evaluate the
linguistic characteristics of the disorder. Additional testing
is done to assess the patient’s ability to understand and
use language, follow difficult directions, discriminate between
sounds, and understand language.
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Treating CAPD
A thorough CAPD evaluation can guide health professionals in
developing individualized therapy and strategies to help
patients deal with the disorder. Treatment options include:
-
Auditory
trainers or FM systems: These electronic devices reduce
background noise interference, allowing a person to focus attention
on the speaker. They’re often used in classrooms,
where the teacher wears a microphone and transmits sound
to the student,
who wears a headset
-
Environmental modifications: An audiologist
can suggest ways to improve the listening environment,
such as improving
a room’s
acoustics or changing seating arrangements
-
Remedial exercises:
A range of exercises have been developed to help increase the patient’s
language base and build on vocabulary
-
Auditory memory
enhancement: Patients can learn techniques to condense complex information
to a more basic form that’s
easier to remember
-
Strategies: Practices like
writing down verbal instructions and checking them off as they
are completed can prove
helpful with school- and work-related tasks.
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