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Auditory Processing
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What is Auditory Processing?
Put simply, auditory processing is "what we do with what we hear."
In other words, it is the ability of the brain (ie. the central nervous system) to process incoming auditory signals.
As we process sound, there are 11 auditory skills that are necessary. If any one of these are not functioning properly, we will have glitches in our processing ability.
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Amplitude Perception
What is the perceived loudness of sounds measured in decibels (dB)
Sometimes what is actually present as the sound source and what a child "perceives" to be the volume are 2 very different things. If a child is hypersensitive to sound, they will process the incoming sound as much louder than it really is (may put hands over ears and say things are too loud, running from a sound source, crying, temper, tantrums, self-injurious behaviour, auditory self - stimulation [example, humming or constant mindless chatter is often common in autistic children but not limited to autism], "tuning out", ignoring certain sounds, withdrawal etc). If they are hyposensitive to sound, they will process the sound as much softer than it is (may need to have volume turned up high on a CD player or TV etc)
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Frequency Perception
Frequency perception, selectivity and discrimination are often used interchangeably.
Frequency perception is our ability to perform a frequency analysis. ie. the ability to split sounds into frequency bands
If a child or adult is unable to analyse sounds correctly and store them in the correct frequency bands, accessing the information becomes slower and more difficult. This also comes into play with speech and being able to identify which sounds (vowels and consonants) are occurring on which frequency bands. As each vowel and consonant occurs on a specific frequency, this can sometimes lead to children swapping consonants. eg. "free" instead of "three".
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Auditory Attention
Attend, focus, or listen to sound
It is almost without exception that children and adults that I see with auditory processing difficulties cannot focus and have difficulty with attention spans. If they have no auditory attention, or if this skill is impaired, then sitting still in school and listening, following instructions etc is virtually impossible.
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Sound Localisation and Lateralisation
Identify where sound has occurred in space
Children or adults who lack this skill have sensory integration difficulties. They may have difficulty telling their right from their left, co-ordination, fine or gross motor control, etc. We use this skill subconsciously everyday for example, when we hear a car coming around the corner, we turn our head to the sound source so we can see where the car is and get out of the way. Without knowing which direction a sound is coming from can be very disorientating.
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Auditory Discrimination
Distinguish between sounds or words that are similar or different in the way they sound
Children or adults with speech challenges are nearly always lacking this skill. If they can't HEAR the sound correctly, they can't PRODUCE the sound correctly. We constantly assess language when we learn new words for similarities or differences to our current vocabulary.
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Auditory Closure
Filling in the missing pieces of sounds or words
If a child or adult is not processing correctly or at a much slower speed than the sound is coming at them, they are always lagging behind and therefore miss some of the conversation. They might only get part of the instruction, or only the first part because the rest is missed while they are processing the first portion. For these people, they have to "fill in the blanks" for the parts they did not hear or process. Sometimes, it explains why, figuratively speaking, a child can hear "1 + 1" but come up with "7!"
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Auditory Pattern Recognition
Determine similarities and differences in patterns of sounds
Once again, a skill that is often missing in children or adults with speech challenges.
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Auditory Memory
To sequence sounds, words, or other meaningful combinations includes; immediate, working, and short-term memory, take in auditory information, process, store and recall it.
If any of these steps are failing then a child or adult will have poor auditory memory (being able to remember things they hear in contrast to things they see - Visual memory)
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Auditory Cohesion
A higher level task that involves the ability to understand the meaning, abstraction, intention or verbal communication
Very common that autistic children do not have this skill. They are often quite literal with the word content dictating the meaning of the sentence. For example.. saying "good grief" in exclamation will often invoke a response like "why is grief good?" It often translates into these children not having a sense of humour because they can't see the "intent" of the meaning behind the words. With use of The Listening Program, this commonly improves quite quickly.
It also means that autistic children or others with social and emotional challenges can't show emotion towards loved ones. They can say the words but the "intent" or emotion behind it is lost. I have seen autistic children become responsive to emotion and be able to better express themselves while on TLP.
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Auditory Figure Ground
Perceive speech or other sound when another competing sound(s) are present
Children or adults who do not have this skill are often great one-on-one but terrible in a group setting. All sound comes at the same level and it is impossible for them to pick out the speech amongst it.
Imagine your child, sitting in school and having every sound equal - the dog barking up the street, the music class in the next block singing, Johnny behind you talking, someone rustling paper, teacher talking, someone scrapping their shoes on the floor, books opening and closing, birds singing outside etc. Is it any wonder that they can't sit still and follow directions?
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Auditory Scene Analysis
Separating sounds when a large mixture of sounds are present
Similar to Auditory Figure Ground but not specific to speech. If everything is at the same level when you are processing as above and you are about to cross a road but the screeching car coming around the corner is not louder than everything else (which slows down your processing speed tremendously) then it could end in disaster because your system does not alert you to the fact that there is danger.
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Ages And Stages
A child's development does not happen equally across the board. Read about the developing child in various areas and types of skills and behaviour to look out for Read more...
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Results
We have seen wonderful results through the use of The Listening Program. See some examples of the types of results we have seen with cognitive thinking, comprehension and writing skills Read more...
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