Auditory Processing Assessment & Screening

When our patients have language delays in childhood, or seem to have issues hearing in certain conditions, it can be an indication that there may be some underlying issues with either basic hearing or higher level auditory processing skills. Issues with hearing can often arise if there is a strong history of ear infections. Although hearing loss only usually lasts during the infection, disruptions during vital brain developmental periods can create issues with higher level brain processing of auditory information. This can result in issues with mishearing certain sounds or struggling to hear with background noise.

At the SCDC if significant language delays or mishearing are observed or reported, we will conduct a screening of auditory processing skills to determine whether there are any issues. If the screening reveals any issues with either hearing or auditory processing we will then make a referral for a full assessment with an audiologist or, depending on the level of concern, with our speech therapist.

Auditory processing assessment Sydney

 What skills are assessed during an auditory processing screen?

  • Gap detection
  • Auditory figure-ground (8 & 12 dB)
  • Competing words
  • Competing sentences
  • Time compressed sentences

As part of broader neuropsychological assessment we can also assess the following:

  • Auditory attention span
  • Auditory working memory
  • Auditory learning
  • Auditory delayed memory
  • Auditory sustained attention
  • Auditory divided attention
  • Phonological processing