Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) among Japanese language users -review and case report

Abstract

Auditory processing disorder (APD) is a disease that demonstrates hearing difficulties even though the process of central auditory perception shows no peripheral hearing impairment. The concept of APD is still sometimes confused in clinical practice areas such as diagnosis and intervention. A girl aged 11 years and 8 months was referred to our hospital complaining of hearing difficulty under noisy circumstances. SPECT imaging revealed local blood flow insufficiencies in the bilateral temporal lobes, and her monosyllable and lexical perception scores on the dichotic listening test (DLT) were significantly low. Severe difficulties in the competitive sound test (CST) were also experienced at S/N 0 dB. Precise diagnosis of APD requires combinations of multiple diagnostic methods including imaging, audiological tests and neuropsychological tests. Optimized tests for the Japanese language are indispensable for diagnosis of and interventions for APD among Japanese-language users.