Central Auditory Processing Evaluations

Central Auditory Processing Disorder

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is a deficit in a person’s ability to process and understand auditory information which is not due to higher order language or cognition difficulty. Those with Central Auditory Processing Disorder typically have normal peripheral hearing, however their brain does not understand what it hears at ear level.

• Difficulty understanding speech in background noise
• Misunderstanding messages
• Responding inconsistently or inappropriately
• Frequently asking for information to be repeated
• Difficulty attending and avoiding distraction
• Difficulty following complex auditory directions
• Difficulty with sound localization
• Reading, spelling and learning problems
• Reduced musical and singing abilities

RISK INDICATORS FOR CHILDREN

Difficulty hearing in background noise Difficulty following instructions Poor listening skills Academic difficulties Poor auditory association skill Distractibility and inattention Chronic otitis media Premature at birth Impact on performance participation in the school system, home and in community Language and learning difficulties

RISH INDICATORS FOR ADULTS

History of a known neurological event (tumours, stroke, solvent exposure, traumatic brain injury, etc.). Changes in experience of listening (or observations of such by others) Cognitive decline Dementia Unsuccessful implementation of amplification especially in light of a neurologic event Vision impairment not correctable by lenses that could disrupt the interpretation of speech or visual world context Trouble hearing in background noise

Step 1: Complete a phone consultation/case history prior to your appointment to address your concerns with the audiologist.

Step 2: Book an appointment for an initial hearing test to rule out any hearing loss. A CAPD screening using an online application will be completed at this appointment as well.

Step 3: Book a full CAPD assessment. This appointment takes approximately 1.5-2 hours and can be done in one appointment or broken up into separate appointments, depending on the age of the individual.

We assess for CAPD using the Central Auditory Battery by Jack Katz, which uses age appropriate normative data for both adults and children. The testing breaks down auditory processing difficulties into distinct categories. 

These categories include decoding which is the ability to quickly and accurately digest speech, tolerance fading memory which is trouble hearing in background noise and short term auditory memory, organization which is maintaining the proper auditory sequence of information and lastly integration which is pulling the information together, across modalities and processing centers. 

After the clinic portion of the evaluation is completed, the audiologist will complete a report in order to evaluate if CAPD is present. Once the report is completed, our staff will contact you to book an appointment to go over the results and answers any questions you may have.

Frequently Asked Questions