Attention A T users. To access the menus on this page please perform the following steps. 1. Please switch auto forms mode to off. 2. Hit enter to expand a main menu option (Health, Benefits, etc). 3. To enter and activate the submenu links, hit the down arrow. You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links.

National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR)

Menu
Menu
Quick Links
Veterans Crisis Line Badge
My healthevet badge
 

About Central Auditory Processing Disorders (CAPD)

Brain imageAuditory processing disorder can be defined as “a condition in which people have trouble making sense of the sounds around them.” (National Institutes of Health) The sounds you hear travel from your ears, to and throughout your brain. Changes at any point along this pathway can interfere with how you process and understand the sounds you hear. Possible symptoms include: 
  • Struggling to recognize or understand speech in noisy settings
  • Problems recognizing spoken words or keeping up with telephone conversations
  • Finding it hard to tell the difference between words that sound alike
  • Feeling uncertain about where the sounds you hear are coming from
Symptoms of auditory processing disorder can be due to many causes and risk factors. In adults, auditory processing difficulties usually appear with other conditions such as head injuries, aging, brain disease, job-related risks (e.g., noise, toxic chemicals), certain mental health conditions, or drugs that can interfere with thinking. Head injuries, blast exposure, jet fuel and/or noise exposure are risk factors common to military service. 

Auditory processing difficulties can occur with other hearing problems, but auditory processing disorder is not the same as hearing loss. Testing can help to determine if symptoms are related to auditory processing disorder or not.

CAPD stands for Central Auditory Processing Disorder whereas APD stands for Auditory Processing Disorder.  Hence, the distinction is whether the peripheral auditory system may be considered when determining the location of dysfunctional auditory processing.  CAPD has been used most often as hearing difficulties in patients without hearing loss were thought to originate in the central auditory system.  However, work over the past two decades has revealed that the cochlea and auditory nerve can sustain considerable damage before impacting pure-tone thresholds.  For this reason, the term APD may be used to convey that auditory peripheral and/or cognitive decline may contribute to auditory processing difficulties.  The terms “CAPD” and “APD” are often used interchangeably. “APD” is sometimes preferred to describe auditory processing dysfunction that may involve peripheral and/or cognitive contributors.

For more details, download this CAPD fact sheet.




 

return to top go