Why Auditory Processing Disorder is not merely about hearing

If you have never heard of the term ‘auditory processing’ before, you might mistakenly assume it is about hearing.

It is more accurate to say that it is an umbrella term for the various ways we filter and process the sounds we hear. Its core idea is the fact that being able to pick up a sound doesn’t mean you are actually processing it.

As a quick example, consider the sound of traffic as you are walking around town. Your ears are always picking up the beeping horns, rumbling engines, and chatter of people also passing by. But even as you walk, you are merely hearing. You are not focusing on any particular sound. You are more likely stepping forward and focused on reaching your destination (which may not even be in sight yet but still fixed on your mind).

Now, why is this a big deal? Well, at least for those in parenting circles, this is because of auditory processing disorder.

Auditory processing disorder is the difficulty of filtering sounds and deriving meaningful information from it. It is often associated with several developmental disabilities like autism and ADHD.

One of the biggest yet often unspoken challenges for those with these disabilities is a lack of understanding of how auditory processing plays such a crucial role in our day-to-day experiences and activities.

Those who learn about it for the first time only assume that it has something to do with hearing, but the ear is just its starting point. In reality, auditory processing a function of the brain.

Thus, it plays an important role in a number of things we do that doesn’t necessarily have to do with sound at first glance. Yet, if you dig a little deep into the neuroscience of how we actually process sound, you will understand why.

To start, here are three areas that are well -known among experts to involve auditory processing:

I. Emotion and Behaviour
II. Intelligence and Learning
III. Movement and Coordination

Interestingly, having a layman’s understanding of why this is so, isn’t actually that difficult.
Hence, it is important to increase awareness of how auditory processing goes beyond how people hear things because it is the key to better understanding the disabilities of many special needs individuals.

Emotion and Behaviour

The influence of auditory processing on emotion and behaviour is perhaps the easiest to see. You can just start by listening to a favourite song.

Why is it your favourite? And more importantly, why does it make you feel the way it does?

If we were just to focus on the pure sound being produced, concepts like melody and rhythm wouldn’t even register (let alone emotion). These concepts are formed because of our brain.

Decades of research with PET and fRMI scans have shown that music has a particularly powerful effect that activates several areas of our brain (across both its creative and logical hemispheres).

It is worth noting that the hippocampus and the amygdala also happen to be part of the limbic system (the area of the brain specialising in emotional and behavioural self-control). The influence of sound on this particular area is one of the many mechanisms researchers have been looking into when trying to understand the sensory disabilities of people with autism and other similar disorders.

That is because any failure to filter and modulate sound also leads to problems like increased sensitivity and an inability to perceive sounds of greater importance (such as when someone is speaking). It can also just very well be the simple headache it would induce in a person.

All of this contributes to the important role of healthy auditory processing when managing stress (especially in noisy environments).

Intelligence and Learning

The ability to analyse and solve problems seems quite far from the ability to just perceive and understand sounds. However, the reality is that both generally make use of the same areas of the brain (such as the prefrontal cortex).

That doesn’t necessarily mean that a person isn’t very bright because they can’t filter, or process sounds very well. It is only that they are still connected, and that connection offers more possible explanations for their cognitive difficulties.

This becomes even more evident during the process of learning, especially in literacy. Problems like dyslexia and ADHD are closely tied to poor performance at school and they are also both tied to auditory processing challenges.

Consider the following scenarios:

At this point, we must once again keep in mind that the ability to filter and discern meaningful information from sound is a function of the brain and not just the ear. Even if something only appears to not depend on sound (such as intelligence), the dependence could be there (indirectly, but still there).

Movement and Coordination

The connection between movement and auditory processing is certainly among the least observable ones on the surface. However, did you know that the inner ear is home to one of the most critical components in our ability to move?

It is called the vestibular system

The system gets its name from the vestibular sense, which is responsible for the sensation of balance and posture. Without it, you wouldn’t even be able to tell if you are actually standing upright. It also just so happens that the hair cells in the inner ear are also transmitting vestibular stimulation along with sound.

These little coincidences shed some surprisingly light on why auditory processing disorder has also been known to overlap with dyspraxia. The parts of the brain we use to process sounds are also the same ones we use when modulating movement and balance.

Muscle tone also depends on the vestibular system and is involved in speech production. The muscles inside and around the mouth are involved to produce sounds with enough clarity.

Rhythm is also another important concept that is run through auditory processing. Some might think that this has to do with music, but the capacity to comprehend rhythm is also used when we walk or perform certain rhythmic tasks like brushing our teeth. Much like sounds, these actions require a sense of timing between movement.

Auditory processing even has an influence on proprioception, the sense responsible for the way we know where each of our body parts are and what they are doing without looking. Things like dancing to a song or even performing a series of motor actions (like buttoning a shirt) can be affected by the way our brains interpret their sounds.

Conclusion

The impact of auditory processing in our day-to-day life merely starts with hearing but hardly defines the whole of it. The functions of the brain responsible for our very ability to make sense of sound are also deeply connected to other areas of our life.

That is why auditory processing can either be the root cause or at least close to the cause of many developmental and learning difficulties for children with disabilities. To start with hearing, but then look deeper into the way their brain understands what they hear has led to more innovative approaches in therapy and intervention.

The Tomatis® Method for Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)

The Tomatis® Method is an auditory-brain training. It uses music, voice, or sounds to stimulate the brain. As a result, it improves the cognitive, emotional, and motor skills of people with auditory processing disorder.

How effective is the Tomatis ® Method? A total of 41 people with APD participated in a study to check the efficacy of the Tomatis® Method. The participants went through a 90-minute Tomatis® auditory brain training. At the end of the training, the participants exhibited improvement in auditory skills. It included auditory cohesion, discrimination, memory, sequencing, and interpretation of directions.

The Tomatis® Method is provided for children and adults with Auditory Processing Disorder(APD) and other related
developmental disabilities such as Autism, Global Developmental Delay, and more. The program consists of a preliminary interview, listening sessions.

For more details on how to start with the Tomatis® Method, call us at 0291 990 240 or email us at info@tomatis.com.au

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