New Zealand Audiologist Draws Attention to Overlooked Hearing Disorder

Audiologist Dr. Bill Keith of New Zealand, is working to draw both national and international attention to a disease called, Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), which has been overlooked and miss-diagnosed within the profession. 

The disorder is significant and elusive as it is a “hearing impairment that occurs in the pathways of the brain.” Basically “it's when the brain can't hear,” he explained. Furthermore, the disorder is hard to treat as “the ears work just fine but the brain can't fully interpret what is being heard.” So, it’s a mixture of a brain and hearing disorder.

More significantly the disease often gets misdiagnosed for a learning disorder. "People with APD can pass normal hearing tests, because to pick it up specialized tests need to be done.” What makes this so significant and problematic is that AMP patients often either go undiagnosed which “can lead to communication and learning problems” are misdiagnosed with dyslexia. Parents of suffers have said the signs are subtle so be on the look out if you may suspect an issue is occurring. For example if teachers at school are suggesting your child has a learning disability get them tested right away for APD- to make sure your addressing the correct issue.

CLICK HERE to read the original article and learn more about APD.