Auditory Processing Assessment
Educational Audiology assessments are available at our newest clinic at MPA. Our clinicians, each with over 20 years’ experience in Paediatric Audiology have a special interest in Educational Audiology, working with the children along with parents and teachers to ensure an optimal listening environment for the child’s learning.
What is Auditory Processing Disorder?
Auditory Processing Disorder is defined as a hearing deficit where the brain has difficulty understanding speech and other sounds in the environment. Children with APD most commonly report difficulty listening in noisy environments, however, it is more often learning delays or difficulties in the classroom that will trigger a referral for APD assessment
If children are referred for an APD assessment, a comprehensive hearing assessment including pure tone audiometry, tympanometry and speech discrimination in quiet are performed to ensure normal hearing and healthy middle ears. The APD assessment then involves various tests to check the child's ability to listen to information presented simultaneously to both ears, their ability to hear in background noise and their ability to detect subtle differences in sound.
Using the information from the APD assessment, feedback from the child’s teachers, parents and other specialists, a written report will be supplied with recommendations for management and/or intervention as appropriate. We accept all referrals for APD assessment; however, a medical referral will also be required to enable Medicare rebate for the hearing assessment.