Adult & Pediatric Audiologist Practicing Near West Chester, PA
An auditory processing disorder (APD) can make it difficult for you to make sense of what you hear. Even though you might hear very well, you could still have a hard time distinguishing subtle differences in sounds. “Cat” may sound the same as “hat,” “parrot” may sound the same as “ferret,” and so on. This may be happening because sound signals are not being properly transferred from your inner ears to your brain. In other words, you hear the words, but you don’t fully understand what they mean.
APDs are complex conditions that affect approximately 5% of school-age children and 1% of the general population. The adult and pediatric audiologists at Hearing Smile Professionals are experts in diagnosing auditory processing disorders and helping our patients learn to manage the associated communication challenges. After we figure out what’s going on, we can suggest the right APD therapy to help you hear and speak to the best of your ability.
A Complex Problem Requires Specialized Expertise
Many APDs are diagnosed during childhood, but some go undetected until adulthood. And even though many people are periodically screened by healthcare professionals for hearing issues in school and during routine medical checkups, only a trained audiologist has the expertise necessary to diagnose and treat an auditory processing disorder. At Hearing Smile Professionals near West Chester, Pennsylvania, APDs are our specialty, and you can feel confident entrusting your hearing and speech to us.
If you are a parent or teacher of a child who seems to be having trouble communicating—or if you are experiencing communication issues yourself—you can turn to Hearing Smile Professionals for personalized care. By performing a thorough hearing test, we can confirm that your ears are properly receiving sounds. If so, we can then perform an auditory processing disorder evaluation, which may tell us that your brain is not assigning the correct meanings to the auditory signals received by your ears. Whether you ultimately need treatment for hearing loss or an APD, we will help you explore your options, including devices such as cochlear implants, and make the right choices.
If you are ready to start your journey toward better communication, contact Hearing Smile Professionals today. We can provide a hearing test and an auditory processing disorder evaluation at our speech and hearing clinic near West Chester, PA.
