Auditory Skills

Individuals with APD often are unable to hear sounds as words and have learning problems, including difficulty in reading, spelling, and language comprehension. They have trouble distinguishing between words or syllables that sound alike (auditory discrimination) and recalling what they heard (poor auditory memory). They show delayed responses to verbal requests and instructions and often will ask someone to repeat what has been said.

Here are more details about the four types of auditory skills essential to processing what one hears, and which may be compromised with APD:

  1. Auditory discrimination is the ability to notice, compare, and distinguish the distinct and separate sounds in words. If a child has difficulty with auditory discrimination, he or she may confuse similar words like seventy and seventeen, have trouble learning to read, and be unable to follow directions even when the child appears to be paying attention.

  2. Auditory figure-ground discrimination is the ability to pick out important sounds from a noisy background. A child who struggles with auditory figure-ground discrimination may be unable to filter background conversations and noises to focus on what is important. For example, a child may miss lessons in class if he or she cannot filter extraneous background noise in the classroom.

  3. Auditory memory is the ability to recall what is heard after a period of time and includes both short-term and long-term memory. Difficulties associated with auditory memory may include remembering people’s names, memorizing telephone numbers, following multi-step directions, and recalling stories or songs.

  4. Auditory sequencing is the ability to understand and recall the order of words. Difficulties with auditory sequencing may include confusing numbers like 93 for 39 and confusing lists and sequences. For example, a child with auditory sequencing problems may not be able to complete a series of tasks in the right order. He or she may fail to be able to do so even when appearing to have heard and understood the directions.

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