Hearing ability refers to more than sounds detected by the ear and passed to the brain for analysis, recognition and comprehension and is only a small part of the auditory system as a whole. As such, auditory difficulty refers to difficulty in comprehension in noisy environments, trouble following complex instructions, or difficulty learning new words or languages. Individuals who can easily “hear” sounds or speech are not described as having hearing difficulties, and these difficulties are often attributed to other problems or disorders, which may result in an individual receiving incorrect treatment.
The brain identifies and analyses perceived pitch, loudness and duration and attempts to match them with learned or stored information, and we then understand what is being said or recognize meaningful sounds (Baran & Schminky, 1999). The definition by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association acknowledges that many neuro-cognitive functions are involved in the processing of auditory information, some specific to acoustic signals and others more general and not necessarily considered components of auditory processing (such as attention, memory, and language representation), unless they are used to process this auditory information (Baran & Schminky, 1999).
Definition
Central Auditory Processing Disorder can be defined as impairment in any one or more of the following perceptual phenomena (Baran & Schminky, 1999): sound localization (where sound is coming from, in relation to the listener); auditory discrimination (recognizing different sounds from each other); temporal aspects (processing acoustic signals over time, including ordering and integrating signals); perception with competing acoustic signals (perceiving speech ...
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...o the disorder. However, the close relationship to attention deficit disorder means that the presented symptoms may be indicative of either one, and that the tests should be as thorough as possible to avoid misdiagnosis. Just as the attention problems associate CAPD with ADD, language problems associate it with SLI. For this reason, symptoms of both disorders can present as “side-effects” in children with CAPD. Katz, Stecker & Henderson (1992, quoted in Baran & Schminky, 1999, p. 1) describe central auditory processing as “what we do with what we hear”. Since most people with CAPD have normal hearing ability, we are able to deduce that it is within the neural relaying of messages that the disorder presents itself. It can be treated or at least managed through personalized programs which target the various functions in which a child with CAPD may be deficient.
...ut a 7 years old girl which loss her ability to understand speech. She had a normal hearing and understood various environmental sounds. Her brain was computerized using axial tomography but the result was normal. But electroencephalogram showed wave activity from her left side of the temporal leads. She was diagnose as having verbal auditory agnosia. The treatment consisted of diazepam therapy. Diazepam therapy orally began with taking 2 mg diazepam every day. Diazepam is commonly used to treat anxiety,panic attacks,insomnia and some other medical issues. One year later, her impaired auditory was dramatically improved. The dichotic listening test revealed a left ear advantage for both environmental sounds and spoken words. The results seemed to suggest that in this patient the right hemisphere might be functioning as a speech center instead of the left one.
Mark started losing his hearing when he was about six or seven years old. This was manifested in confusion in music class, misunderstanding the words that the choir was singing, and discombobulation in noisy rooms. Eventually, it was noted that Mark’s hearing was deteriorating.
A hearing loss can present many obstacles in one's life. I have faced many issues throughout my life, many of which affected me deeply. When I first realized that I was hearing-impaired, I didn't know what it meant. As I grew older, I came to understand why I was different from everyone. It was hard to like myself or feel good about myself because I was often teased. However, I started to change my attitude and see that wearing hearing aids was no different than people wearing glasses to see.
After the sound is processed in the cochlea, the auditory information travels into the brain in order to be interpreted.
Lu, Z.-L., Williamson, S.J., & Kaufman L. (1992, Dec 4). Behavioral lifetime of human auditory
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. (November 2002). Retrieved October 17, 2004, from http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/coch.asp
Auditory localization is the ability to recognize the location from which a sound is emanating (Goldstine, 2002). There are many practical reasons for studying auditory localization. For example, previous research states that visual cues are necessary in locating a particular sound (Culling, 2000). However, blind people do not have the luxury of sight to help them locate a sound. Therefore, the ability to locate sound based only on auditory ability is important. It is also important to study different auditory processes. For example, when studying a way for a blind person to maneuver through an environment, it is helpful to know that people can most accurately locate sounds that happen directly in front of them; sounds that are far off, to the side, or behind the head are the least likely to be properly located (Goldstein, 2002).
In my life, I've had a major setback that has changed how I live life day to day. When I was five, I was diagnosed with permanent hearing loss. I have hearing loss in both ears, mostly in higher frequencies, but I still have some hearing loss in the lower ones too. Since I was 5, it has only gotten worse, just in the past year there has been drastic changes in the frequencies that I can't hear. Hearing loss affects me day to day, for example if anyone whispers something to me, nine of ten times I can't hear what they are saying. My academics also get affected because sometimes I can't hear what we have for homework over all of the background noise of people packing up, so sometimes I just don't do homework because I never heard it in the first place. Not doing homework because I can't hear it affects my grades as I will get zeros for not doing it.
National Institute of Health. (2011). National Institute on Deafness and other communication disorders: Improving the lives of people who have communication disorders. National Institute on
Helfer (1998) recognized the slowing of our temporal perceptual processes with increasing age. He suggested that this leads to auditory deformity, especially in the instance of time compressed speech. Speech comprehension requires rapid processing of stimuli that is not always completed in time-compressed speech because of the shortening of phonemes and a decrease in pauses. Helfer went a step further by taking into account that hearing is not just auditory but it is also visual, in that we use cues like looking at the person's mouth or facial expression while having a conversation.
Itano, C. Y. (1997). The challenge of assessing language in children with hearing loss. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 28(4), 362. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/232585838?accountid=14800
Lachs, L., Pisoni, D., & Kirk, K. (2001). Use of audiovisual information in speech perception by
Pickles, James O. An Intro to the Physiology of Hearing. NY: Academic Press. 1982. p- 264- 79
...orm from which to carry out further research, it is clear that it cannot be accepted as a fully working model of speech perception. Alternative theories have since been proposed, such as the Massaro’s fuzzy logic model, which suggests that speech sounds are considered in terms of how likely they are to belong to a specific category. Thus the final decision of how a sound is perceived can take into account multiple features or sources of information, including visual information. While each theory has its own strengths and weaknesses, they differ fundamentally in whether or not they believe speech to have a “special” module in the brain. As of yet, the body of evidence is not sufficient to conclusively prove or disprove either, and the answer as to how exactly listeners extract the linguistic features of speech sounds from the acoustic signal has yet to be found.
Hearing is known to be an automatic function of the body. According to the dictionary, hearing is, “the faculty or sense by which sound is perceived; the act of perceiving sound,” (“hearing…”). Hearing is a physical and involuntary act; therefore, unless one is born with a specific form of deafness, everyone has the natural ability to hear sounds. Sounds constantly surround us in our everyday environments, and because we are so accustomed to hearing certain sounds we sometimes don’t acknowledge them at all (or “listen” to them). The dictionary definition of listening is, “to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing,” (“listening…”). This differs from hearing in that this is a voluntary action, and we have control over what we choose to listen to. As stated by William Seiler and Melissa Beall, “You don’t have to work at hearing; it just happens… Listening, on the other hand, is active and requires energy and desire,” (145).