NeuraSonic

Auditory processing and the NeuraSonic listening therapy

Although a child’s ability to hear may be diagnosed as normal, they can still be suffering from an auditory processing disorder. This is because a child can hear in the sense that there is not damage to the ear’s ability to receive and perceive sounds. The problems lies in that the child cannot fully process the information that is  heard in the same way as others because the ears and brain are not communicating properly, which provokes many of their learning and communication difficulties. Human beings hear when energy that we recognize as sound travels through the ear and is changed into electrical information that can be interpreted by the brain. An auditory processing disorder indicates that something is somehow affecting the processing or interpretation of the sounds received by the brain. Again, children with an auditory processing disorder typically have normal hearing and intelligence. Nor does their difficulty lie in developmental intelligence. Rather, the difficulty lies in paying attention to and remembering information presented verbally, carrying out multi-step directions, confusing syllable sequences, poor vocabulary development, difficulty with reading, comprehension, spelling, and overall poor listening skills and therefore, low academic performance. At a fundamental level, these language and communication disorders can be linked to an under-developed ear. 

What are the Causes?

An auditory processing disorder  is a physical hearing impairment. However, as stated it is not one that shows up as a hearing loss on routine screenings or an audiogram. Instead, it affects the neurological system beyond the ear, which identifies and separates meaningful messages from non-essential background noise and sends that information to the intellectual centers of the brain. A constant interference in the processing of information can be hereditary in families, a result of a difficult pregnancy or birth, or the disorder can be acquired from a head injury or a severe illness during the child’s first years. Frequently, the exact cause is unable to be identified.

What Are the Specific Signs and Symptoms?

Of course, the following exemplary symptoms of CAPD can range from mild to severe and can take many different forms, depending on the child. If you think there may be a problem with how your child  processes information or what he/she is able to hear and pick up, you can ask yourself these questions, but ultimately you will need to have him/her diagnosed by a qualified professional:

 Is he/she easily distracted or unusually bothered by loud or sudden noises?

 Do noisy environments upset him/her?

 Does he/she have difficulty following directions, whether simple or complicated ones?

 Does he/she have reading, spelling, writing, or other speech-language difficulties?

 Is abstract information difficult for him/her to comprehend?

 Does he/she have difficulty following conversations?

These, as well as other behaviors  may be signs of a central auditory processing disorder. However, it is often-misunderstood or misdiagnosed because many of these symptoms may also be indicative of other conditions such as learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other related developmental difficulties.

How Does Auditory Processing Relate to My Child?

Auditory processing provides the foundation for learning language and for learning language-based academic skills such as reading, spelling, and writing.  When auditory processing abilities are not well developed, an individual is at risk for language and learning disabilities.  Children with auditory processing disorders may have difficulty following multi-step directions. They may mishear and therefore misunderstand what is said to them.  For example, a question such as “How old are you?” may be heard as “How are you?” These children may say “what?” or “huh?” frequently.  They often need directions repeated.  Their responses in conversation may be delayed and at times absent.  They may not understand jokes and may have trouble finding the words to express themselves verbally or on paper.

In more severe cases, speech and language may be delayed, as these children are unable to quickly discriminate and attach meaning to words spoken to them.  Children who do not process sounds properly do not respond to verbal cues. They can mispronounce words because they have misheard them.  Their social skills can be affected, as they are not processing auditory information at a sufficient speed to respond promptly in a two-way verbal exchange. Over time, this lack of verbalization deprives the ear of the stimulation it needs for continued fine-tuning – children learn to focus on the human voice above all other sounds by hearing their own voice repeatedly.  The human voice may become too complex or difficult for them to process, so they continue to tune it out.  After a while, they become disconnected from the outer word.

Children with auditory processing difficulties who develop language may still misunderstand verbal instruction or miscommunicate their desires.  They often become frustrated that others do not understand them or that they do not understand what is going on.  Language-based academic skills are often difficult for these children. Learning to read phonetically is dependent on auditory decoding and synthesizing, and is therefore difficult for children with auditory processing disorders. Spelling can be equally challenging as they do not hear the words accurately and therefore are unable to reproduce them. Often reading comprehension is impaired because they are working so hard to decode what they have read that there is no room for understanding. Although these children may learn to read, they may never do so for pleasure. Classes that are dependent on language and reading skills may be difficult. Subjects such math and science may become more challenging later on as these subjects become increasingly language based.

By the time these children enter fourth grade, the majority of their lessons are presented verbally. By middle school, they must learning to “tune in” to verbal directions from many different teachers. They often start to daydream or “tune-out” because their auditory systems are simply overloaded. Children may experience feelings of anxiety or a lack of energy.  Moreover, as class size becomes larger, there is more background noise competing for attention, making listening increasingly difficult.

What is Auditory Processing and how does it affect normal cognitive acquisitions?

Central auditory processing disorders are described as the inability to discriminate, recognize, and comprehend information presented through the auditory channel despite normal hearing and intelligence.  We often refer to auditory processing as “listening”.
Dr. A. Tomatis distinguished between hearing, which he described as the passive reception to sound, and listening that he described as the active ability, intention, and desire to focus on sounds.  It is possible and even likely to having normal hearing, yet poor listening.

Auditory processing relates to how the ear makes sense of what it hears. The auditory system is required to interpret all the sounds of spoken language and attach linguistic meaning to them. This requires auditory perception and auditory processing; together they provide the foundation for understanding and using verbal and written language.

Sound waves arrive from outside the body to the inner ear where the cochlea analyzes them and that information is then sent to the processing centers of the brain.  We determine what each sound is, if it is important, and whether or not we wish to respond to it. We have to discriminate sounds, which often involves “filling in the gaps”, as we rarely receive a clear auditory signal. We have to tune into one signal and distinguish it from background noise. We have to compare and share the differing auditory information we receive from each ear. All this information has to be shared and integrated with the sensory information coming from our eyes and body.

Development of Auditory Processing

Our ability to analyze sound develops in the womb.  The inner ear is the first sensory system to fully develop in utero. The fetus learns to tune in to the salient sounds of the mother’s voice and ignore background noise. During this stage, the child learns to recognize the sounds (phonemes) that make up language.  Research has shown that an unborn fetus will respond with a different movement to each of the phonemes, the building blocks of language, spoken by the mother. This early listening in the womb plays a vital role in the later development of language. At birth a baby is already familiar with and responsive to all spoken sounds; in other words, the child is essentially “wired” for language development. Born with an ear already attuned to language sounds, the baby is ready to make rapid progress in attaching meaning to the sounds heard.  Language is not taught to infants; it emerges just as sitting and crawling. Normal auditory processing is necessary for language to unfold and the foundation for this is established in the womb.

Aside from developmental reasons, auditory processing can be interrupted by repeated ear infection in early childhood.  Ear infections, medically referred to as otitis media, result in fluid accumulating in the middle ear.  Fluid can remain in the ear for up to several months following an infection. This can result in intermittent hearing loss during a critical time for language acquisition.  The transmission of high frequency sounds is what is most commonly compromised when there is fluid in the middle ear.  These high frequencies provide much of the meaning to spoken language. When our ear misses sounds such as “th, f, s, sh, t, k, and p”, it is difficult to understand the content of what is being said. The word ‘ship” may be heard as “ip” and “that” as “at”, for example. There are critical periods of development when the baby’s ear is best able to discern certain sounds. If there is fluid in the ear at that time, it may be difficult for the child to discriminate those particular sounds even when the hearing returns. This distortion of perception may compromise more abstract expression of sounds.  For example, if a child cannot perceive the “th” sound, they may not be able to pronounce it, read it, or spell it.

The Vestibular Cochlear System

Movement and sound are closely linked as exemplified by the ability of the fetus to move in response to the phonemes spoken by the mother. This is because both movement and sounds are perceived by the inner ear via the vestibular cochlear system.  The vestibule analyzes longer wavelengths generated within the body by our movements and body position; the cochlear analyzes shorter wave lengths (sound waves) generated outside the body. The vestibule and the cochlea are anatomically joined, sharing a common wall and common fluid.  The ear is responsible for making sense of virtually all the sensory information received by the body and functions as the body’s link between the inner and outer world.

How can the NeuraSonic® Listening Therapy help?

Simultaneous stimulation of the vestibule and cochlea is key. The addition of active listening training, which involves audio-vocal work, further hones the ear’s listening ability. The program is designed to improve the functioning of the ear and to increase an individual’s ability to listen and understand language. The auditory processing system can be improved through proper stimulation, opening up a whole new world for those with auditory processing disorders.