Why Can I Hear, But Not Understand?
Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is when there’s a disconnect between your ears and your brain, leading to hearing words spoken to you, but not quite understanding them right.
For example, someone might ask you, “How are the chair and couch alike?” and your brain will accidentally scramble the sounds so that you hear, “How a cow and hair are like?”
Streamlined CAPD treatment isn’t out of reach for those looking for straightforward hearing healthcare. Our unbundled plans come with all the bells and whistles you need, and none of the ones you don’t, so that you don’t have to worry about excess features or costs.
If you or a loved one has been struggling with not understanding what you’re hearing, we encourage you to seek out a CAPD assessment to find out how you can get back to hearing and understanding.


What Are The Signs & Symptoms?
CAPD affects everyone slightly differently, but the most common signs include:
- Difficulty understanding spoken language in noisy backgrounds
- Taking longer to respond in oral communication situations
- Frequent requests for repetitions
- Inconsistent or inappropriate responding
- Difficulty following complex auditory directions or commands
- Difficulty with musical skills, including learning songs or nursery rhymes
- Misunderstanding messages or interpreting sarcasm or jokes
- Difficulty paying attention
- Poor performance on speech and language tests
- Associated reading, spelling, and learning problems
What Happens During My Auditory Processing Test?
If you’re unsure of what happens during your auditory processing test, here’s a step-by-step guide on what happens when you join us for treating your CAPD.
Review Your Case History
Your specialist will review a few key items of information with you to determine more information related to your suspected CAPD diagnosis. This information may include the following:
- Auditory/behavioral complaints
- Psychological factors (e.g., attention, memory, motivation)
- Cultural and linguistic background (e.g., native language)
- Educational achievement
- Family/genetic history
- Health status (medical history and medications)
- Hearing status (e.g., peripheral auditory system)
- Prior and current related therapies
- Risk factors and comorbidities (e.g., learning disabilities, epilepsy)
- Speech, language, and literacy concerns
Evaluation of Peripheral Auditory System
Peripheral auditory disorders include conductive, sensorineural, and mixed hearing loss, as well as auditory neuropathy. These disorders can affect an individual’s ability to hear and understand speech in background noise to varying degrees.
Here, you will go through a standard hearing test where you listen for sounds and respond when you hear them.
Evaluation of Central Auditory System
Based on your case history and initial hearing assessment, your audiologist will select the appropriate CAP test for your needs. There are two types of audiologic evaluation measures that can be used to assess your auditory processing skills.
Behavioral
- Auditory discrimination tests: Check the ability to tell similar sounds apart.
- Auditory temporal tests: Assess how well you process sounds over time.
- Dichotic speech tests: Measure the ability to hear different sounds in each ear at the same time.
- Monaural low-redundancy tests: Test recognition of unclear speech, like speech in noise or fast speech.
- Binaural interaction tests: Evaluate how well you combine sound inputs from both ears.
Electrophysiologic
This assesses neural processes in the central auditory pathway. These measures include auditory brainstem response (ABR), middle latency response (MLR), late cortical response, P300, and mismatch negativity.
Schedule Your CAPD Screening Today
If you believe that you or a loved one are dealing with Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), please don’t hesitate to contact us.
With the help of a professional CAPD screening, you can get a handle on your auditory processing issues and learn more about what you need to hear clearly and understand better.
Simply fill out this form to schedule your appointment with us. For a more immediate conversation, you can always call us at your nearest office
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Frequently Asked Questions
Some of our most frequently asked questions regarding Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)
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