Adult & Pediatric Audiologist Practicing Near Harrisburg, PA
Do you or your child have trouble following along when someone is speaking? If so, you might be surprised to find out that you hear fine. Instead, your communication challenges could be related to an auditory processing disorder (APD). Many people with an APD liken it to listening to someone talk on a mobile phone as the signal cuts in and out.
Does that sound familiar? If so, an experienced audiologist at Hearing Smile Professionals can determine the underlying cause of your communication issues. We offer diagnostic audiology services for adults and children—including audiology testing and comprehensive auditory processing disorder evaluations—near Harrisburg, PA. We also offer cochlear implants and hearing aids from all manufacturers.
What Is an APD?
After entering your ears, the sounds you hear don’t go any farther than your eardrums. At that point, the sounds are transformed into electrical impulses that are processed by your brain. An APD interferes with the processing of those electrical impulses.
In a nutshell, here’s what happens when you listen to someone speak:
- The speaker’s vocal cords produce sounds that travel through the air to reach your eardrums.
- Your eardrums vibrate with the incoming sounds, causing three tiny bones in your middle ear to move, amplify the sounds, and stimulate your cochlear nerve.
- The fluid inside your cochlear nerve ripples and forms a wave. As sensory cells ride the wave, their tiny hair-like projections bump against the overlying structure, causing pore-like channels to open and release chemicals. The chemicals then rush into the cells and create electrical signals.
So, what you think you hear is actually a sequence of silent electrical impulses that your brain processes into sounds, words, and meaningful sentences and concepts. An APD interferes with the last step of the process, resulting in a garbled message.
How Is an APD Treated?
Although an auditory processing disorder cannot be cured, it can be effectively treated with environmental modifications, speech therapy, compensation strategies, and/or auditory training. After confirming your diagnosis, your audiologist at Hearing Smile Professionals can work with you to develop a personalized APD therapy plan to help you communicate to the best of your ability.
If you would like to schedule an appointment with an adult or pediatric audiologist near Harrisburg, PA, contact Hearing Smile Professionals today.
