Auditory Processing Skills

Auditory Processing Skills

Many people ask about the auditory processing skills. Auditory processing is how the brain identifies and understands sound information, and that includes many different skills.

Auditory processing skills are classified and named differently in different resources. Here is a simple way to describe them and explain their role and the effect of lacking them on everyday behavior.


1.Auditory discrimination is the inability to distinguish sounds that are similar but are actually different or distinct. For example back and pack or sat and fat. 

This can present as hearing loss. Candidates usually mishear oral communication and respond accordingly. This leads to language issues like spelling vocabulary and reading aloud resulting in learning, academic, and communication difficulties. 

This can be noticeable in schools, universities, social events and workplaces.APS 02

2.Auditory localization, which is the ability to locate the source or location of sound.

For example: Is it my phone that's ringing or another phone? or, which appliance is the sound coming from?

3.Auditory identification or association, is attaching a meaning to certain sounds or speech.

4.Auditory synthesis; the ability to put together sounds into a meaningful whole.

Lack of this skill leads to difficulty pulling ideas together in conversation & writing, and poor comprehension.

5.Auditory awareness, which is the ability to detect sound.

6.Auditory attention is filtering unnecessary sounds as well as shifting attention and sustaining it with focusing on certain sounds. 

Lack of this skill, will lead to a lack of responding or following directions when spoken to, or difficulty shifting from one topic to the next, and sustaining attention on topic during classes or conversations. 

7.Auditory figure ground is the ability to attend to specific sounds in competing background noise.

Lack of this skill shows up as having problems with group conversations or difficulty focusing when there is music, tv, or any background noise.

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8.Auditory closure, which is the ability to understand speech when some sounds are missing or muffled. 

This shows when there is difficulty to make sense of what is said when sounds are far away or in another room for example. 

9.Auditory memory and sequential memory which are very important for remembering numbers and information.

10.Auditory processing speed, which is how fast we can respond to a sound stimulus.

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11.Phonological awareness or auditory analysis which is the ability to identify, blend, segment, and manipulate oral language structure. 

As you can guess, it's very important for learning and language skills. 

12.Auditory reasoning, which is understanding auditory information logically and drawing conclusions.

Lack of this skill leads to difficulty making sense of sarcasm, irony, and inferences or implied meaning in speech and reading without visual queues.

 

How many out of these  were you aware of? Do you or someone you know are experiencing certain behavioral difficulties?

 

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us here or email us at avidsensorywellness@gmail.com

 

You can learn this also by listening to: 

Part 1 of the auditory processing skills and how they affect our sensory wellness: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7XOgUWMLqV/?igsh=MTRxMWtobXlmM3FpMA== 

Part 2 of the auditory processing skills and how they affect our sensory wellness: 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7XQMCzMSGg/?igsh=MXhvc3FwY2NzcnlnMg== 

Part 3 of the auditory processing skills and how they affect our sensory wellness: 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7XRVPMs0jn/?igsh=MXZyNDI2MnI2MWJwOQ== 

Part 4 of the auditory processing skills and how they affect our sensory wellness: 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7fGAsAMyFV/?igsh=NTB4bno2aWp5bDEy 

Part 5 of the auditory processing skills and how they affect our sensory wellness: 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7fG_QLsOpj/?igsh=MTJ4Zmt1aW8wdTkwcw== 

 

Sources

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK587357/

https://lkn-slp.com/auditory-processing-a-breakdown-of-skills/

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/central-auditory.html

https://goodsensorylearning.com/products/1406492?_pos=2&_sid=9f295e181&_ss=r 

https://www.ebooks2go.com/hearing-equals-behavior-updated-and-expanded

https://books.google.ca/books/about/Hearing_Equals_Behavior_Updated_and_Expa.html?id=TkaMAgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

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