Introduction to auditory processing disorder - the language ‘barrier’

Abstract

Medical Psychoacoustics is the field of science dealing with the way human beings perceive auditory phenomena and the inter-relation with the physical characteristics of sounds; extending from the simplest (a tone) and going all the way to the most complex everyday life sounds such as speech and music. When perceiving sounds, a human being uses first of all his hearing. Additional functions involve attention, language abilities, memory, learning, as well as vision. All of them need to be intact in order for the auditory perception to work properly, especially in highly demanding auditory situations and/or conditions.